The Last of the Gijinka
by Redbud-Tree
Summary: Impmon has had a secret for years. Unfortunately, due to a new enemy, one that has inexplicable ties to both him and his past, his secret was revealed. Now in the Digital World, Impmon is discovering that stopping this enemy may cost him everything.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: And I'm back to the land of the living! No, I haven't forgotten my 02 fic – I swear I'm going to continue it, I've just gotten sidetracked. Now this . . . this fic is a whole new idea for me. First of all, I've never written Tamers before (let alone an AU Tamers fic), second I've never attempted a fic of this magnitude, and third, I've got more of this planned out than in any other fic I've written. Most of the time I just wing it. This, at least, has about half the plot worked out. So, with any luck, this will be one of my best works ever. Or it could be my biggest flop. Let's see how it works out. If it's a flop, it's a flop. People who don't tolerate creative license, don't read.

On another note, I don't know how long it will take me between updates. I tend to be sporadic, and occasionally lose my inspiration, or just write myself into a corner. I will say that I have some of the second chapter done now, and reviewers can have an influence on how fast I get it out. I also have another thing interfering with my free-writing time: A.P. classes. Oh yes, the joys of A.P. U.S. History and A.P. English. The second will improve my writing, but they both will detract, on the whole, from my writing time. (Term papers. Blech. xD)

FEEDBACK is welcome. FLAMES are not. Feedback can be positive or negative, but it has reason behind it and doesn't throw in an inordinate amount of derogatory language, Flames aren't worth my time and I'd much rather be working on my English than dealing with them. So if I get too many flames, I will remove this fic rather than put up with being harassed. Thank you.

Mostly unbetaed, but I did go over it two or three times with a fine tooth comb. Still, I know I missed at least a few things. Nobody's perfect. (Heck, I've had fics that _were _betaed still come out with errors.)

Disclaimer: Well, I own the storyline, I don't know who owns the idea of gijinkas (if anyone), and I know I don't own the characters. I just play with them. Oh, and some of the names contained herein are, to my knowledge, nonexistent in real life. I made them up. If there are real names that bear resemblance to my creations, it's pure chance. And since there is no info forthcoming, I took it upon myself to name Ai and Makoto's parents, - plus give them their surname -, but that doesn't mean I own them. Oh, and I'm using the Japanese names for the characters, but I don't know how much else yet.

One last little thing in my notoriously long author's note – there's a sequence near the end of this chapter that I'll admit might be a _trifle_ OOC, but this is an AU and I'm not really certain if this character's personality might be a bit different in this situation.

Dedicated to: Sphynx! For being my best buddy and putting up with my randomly insane ideas – and for betaeing, too.

'**The Last of the Gijinka'**

Chapter One

The Digital World: Many knew of it, some knew that it was real, but very few truly understood it or the races that inhabited it. The Digimon were, of course, the most well known of the world's inhabitants, with the Digignomes a close second. However, there was a third race – so rare and secretive that very little information was available, and most of it based on rumors.

Long ago, at the same time the other races of the Digital World developed, the third race of creatures came to be. This race was remarkably similar to the Digimon, yet at the same time, vastly different. So-called 'Gijinka Digimon' were a blend of humanity and data like no other race before or after their time. It is unknown how they first developed, being that they bore such a physical resemblance to the human race, yet it is undoubtable that they matched their Digimon cousins in power and distinctiveness.

These beings appeared virtually human, yet they retained some of the features of their Digimon counterparts. Depending on the particular gijinka, they shared the ears, the tail, and/or other features. Of course, some gijinka were nearly indistinguishable from humans. However, gijinka possessed a trait singular to their species: They could alter their appearance into that of their Digimon counterpart, or assume a completely human identity. When in their Digimon form, they were identical in every way with the true Digimon denizens of the Digital World.

Gijinka were an enigmatic race. They preferred to keep to themselves and avoided openly interacting with anyone. If they were forced to interact with the true Digimon, they would always adopt their Digimon form so as to go about undetected. Given their secrecy, it did not take long for vicious rumors to circulate. Curiosity turned into distrust, distrust became fear; fear developed into hatred.

This hatred was strengthened considerably when a particular gijinka started making a reputation for himself – a bad one. Originally the one most rumors circulated about, this particular gijinka soon took pleasure in spreading his own rumors, further discrediting his people. He played an instrumental role in what was to become the Digital world's first true genocide.

Sovereigns Qinglongmon, Xuanwumon, and Baihumon were aware of this growing problem, yet didn't think much of it. They had greater problems to worry about. Zhuquiaomon, on the other hand, had at least a partial idea of what might happen if this trend in opinion continued. He did not deign to stop it, as privately he harbored a distrust of the gijinka too – mainly because of their resemblance to the humans.

Gradually, the gijinka were sought out and destroyed. In an already brutal world, no one thought much of this massacre. After all, they didn't know how many gijinka there were in the first place – how could they keep track of a species that can disappear into the crowd? Even if they could have known just how many were being cut down, it's unknown as to whether anything would be done to halt the slaughter. The fear and hatred ran far too deep.

* * *

"_Imouku! Run! We have to get out of here!"_

"_But . . . Mama . . . what about . . . ?"_

_ Golden eyes filled with tears. The gijinka Black Tailmon squeezed her young son's hand as she dragged him along. Her lengthy violet hair was ragged and disheveled; her ears lay flat and her tail twitched anxiously. She refused to say anything at first, and simply kept moving. Her son tried to keep up with her, but his legs were considerably shorter than his mother's and he tripped._

_ The tiny gijinka Yaamon was only five years old, but already had seen much suffering and death. His bright green eyes were wide with fright, but he was confident that his mother could protect him. Even so, his mother's fear was a powerful motivator, and he raced after her despite his stumbling. His mother looked down at him and knew that he wouldn't be able to run much farther._

_ The sounds of battle echoed on the air behind the two. At the first sign of attack Imouku's mother had taken her son and fled, as her husband distracted their attackers and gave them time to get away. Both of them had known that there was no way he would survive – he wouldn't be able to fend off a large-scale attack of over a score of assailants. But of course, little Imouku didn't know that._

"_He'll catch up, Imouku. Now _**run**_!"_

"_But Mama!"_

_ An angry shout from close by sent a new wave of fear through the twosome, and Imouku found himself in his mother's arms as she ran with all the speed and agility of her Digimon counterpart. The virus type aimed for a small rock cave that would sufficiently hide a very small form. Reaching it, she set her son down, looked straight into his eyes and spoke calmly, yet forcefully._

"_Imouku, I need you to listen to me. There isn't much time. Will you promise me something?"_

_ The little one nodded, nervously sucking his middle and ring fingers. His mother smiled, "Good. I need you to shift forms and hide in that cave. Don't come out, no matter what happens. Do you understand?"_

"_Yes, mama."_

"_Alright then. Promise me, Imouku – promise me that you won't let anyone find out what you are. It's too dangerous for the gijinka anymore. If you are found out, I won't be able to protect you," She glanced behind her and continued in a rushed manner, " Promise me, Imouku! Promise that you'll stay safe, no matter what happens! Promise!"_

_ Bright green eyes blinked solemnly, "I promise, mama."_

_ A genuine smile lit up the adult's worried face before her features hardened. "_**Now**_ Imouku! Hide _**now**_!"_

_ Terrified, Imouku did as he was told, and a small Yaamon hopped into the cave. He looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of his mother, and saw an angry Black Tailmon leap into a hopeless battle. He couldn't take his eyes off of the fight, even when his mother fell to the ground, data fizzling. Only when she disintegrated in front of him did he shut his eyes and try to block out the world._

* * *

"Impmon-chan!"

"Impmon-chan! Wake up!"

The voices were pleading, impatient, and impossible to resist. Impmon cracked an eye open and found the faces of his twin Tamers, Ai and Makoto, less than six inches from his own. He sat up, blinking repeatedly.

"I'm up already, you don't have to yell!"

The two children exchanged a look, and spoke in unison,

"But we've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes!"

Impmon blinked at them, still a bit sleepy and not thinking too clearly. His Tamers were already dressed and carried their backpacks. Apparently it was already time for them to go to school – he had slept in. It was just about a year after the Parisimon attack, and Impmon had gotten in the habit of following his Tamers to school. Now the twins wouldn't leave the house without making sure he was with them. Most of the time he didn't mind, but this particular morning he didn't really want to. He had other things to do today.

Still, his Tamers would not be denied, and Impmon was soon bounding along the rooftops just a little ways behind the twins. Oh well, perhaps he could find something to entertain himself with. Maybe he could slip away for a bit and have some alone time.

He hardly ever got that anymore, and while he loved his Tamers, he had spent so much time living on his own that he sometimes felt a little crowded. Even so, he preferred making sure that the twins were safely in school before he went off. He couldn't bear it if something were to happen to them. It didn't take very long for Ai and Makoto to reach the schoolyard, and Impmon watched them enter from his position on a streetlamp.

"Bye Impmon! See you later!"

Impmon waved back at them as they went into the school building, then left. He didn't have any particular destination in mind, other than perhaps stopping to get some breakfast. Today was Saturday, so the twins would be out of school relatively soon, and there was supposed to be a meeting of some sort this afternoon. The small purple Digimon had no intention of really 'attending' said meeting, but he would probably drop in on it anyway.

For now, though, he had nothing to do. . . except find a way to fill his stomach. He could always go back to the house, but the twins' mother tended to annoy him with her overly sweet personality. Oh she was a nice lady, that was a given. She was just _too_ nice. She could be rather scary at times.

No, Impmon really didn't want to go back there. Another option crossed his mind: Takato's parents were always seeking help, and it was a well-known fact that they would feed any Digimon who volunteered some of their time. Not that Impmon really wanted to work for his breakfast, but maybe he could get them to feed him first so he could leave without working.

His stomach made the decision for him. If and how he could get out of the work would come later. He needed to eat _now_!

* * *

Several hours and a full stomach later, Impmon was reclining in a tree, watching the Tamers meeting. They weren't all there – Hirokazu had gotten himself grounded, and Makoto had decided to go to a friend's house. Impmon wasn't too pleased with that idea – he had a fear of his Tamers forgetting and abandoning him, even if he was the one who had left the first time - but he had gotten over it.

He had picked this tree because it offered him a decent view of the proceedings while being relatively secluded. The only way they'd see him was if he drew attention to himself. Of course, Renamon would still know he was there, but she wouldn't disturb him while there were more important things to do.

Impmon was bored. All the Tamers were discussing were recent BioEmerges, and those had been few and far between and fairly easy to take care of. Impmon found himself watching Ai, who had attached herself to Jenrya – somehow or other the little girl had gotten the idea that she would marry the half Chinese boy. Jenrya, however, did not share this opinion, and it was obvious to everyone . . . except Ai.

It was too bad Makoto wasn't here. He was the only one who could keep Ai from bothering Jenrya . . . if only because he had a similar fascination with Ruki. This was something neither his twin nor the older girl appreciated, so it usually worked out this way: Makoto would keep Ai away from Jenrya, and Ai would keep Makoto away from Ruki – partially for his own safety, of course.

Impmon attempted to put his mind on the whatever-it-was going on down below, but he really didn't care about stuff like that – too boring. Plus Renamon was standing right underneath the tree he was hiding in and he had a strange urge to set her tail on fire – something that would undoubtedly get him in more trouble than he could deal with right now.

He weighed it in his mind for a few minutes – whether or not the thrill of seeing Renamon's face was worth it when she got angry. The purple Digimon was fairly certain it wouldn't hurt her . . . but he was another story altogether. There was no telling what Renamon would do to him if –and he most certainly would with Renamon being the target – get caught.

'_Aw, to heck with it. At least it'll stir up some excitement around here.'_

He looked around cautiously. Good, no one noticed him. Oh, they knew he was there, but he preferred not to draw attention to himself at the moment. He took careful aim at the very tip of Renamon's tail. Just as he was about to set his plan into motion, she turned her head towards him.

"Don't even consider it."

Impmon 'wilted', and plastered a false hurt look on his face.

"Who, me? I wasn't gonna do anything!"

"Of course you weren't."

Was it just him, or was there a flicker of amusement in her eyes? Nah, probably not – who could tell? Nevertheless, Impmon sat back on his tree limb and began to sulk.

"And stop sulking. It just makes you look childish."

'_Shows how much you know,' _Impmon thought and resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her. Giving up on having anything fun happen for the next half-hour or so, Impmon lay back on his tree limb and took an impromptu nap. Surely his dreams would contain more excitement than this . . .

* * *

"**_Yes, little one . . . sleep . . . dream . . . let your mind take you back to where it began. _****_Remember me – and your reason to fear. Remember me . . . and face your_ **future**_!"_**

_ His mother was tucking him in for the night – not that what he was sleeping on was an actual bed, as his family had been forced to flee their home just a few weeks before. He was frightened; this place was unpleasant and cold, and the darkness pressed in all around him._

"_Mama . . . I wanna go home."_

_ His mother responded in the way she usually had for the past two weeks – with a half annoyed, half sad sigh._

"_We can't go home right now, 'Mouku. Maybe we'll find a new home."_

_ The promise was an empty one, and even a four-and-a-half-year-old could tell that. He glared at her, pouting._

"_Liar."_

_ This time his mother didn't meet his eyes, and went to sit next to his father on the other side of the small campfire._

"_Go to sleep, Imouku. We need to go on tomorrow."_

_ Imouku pouted, but then proceeded to lie down and close his eyes. He lay there for a while, listening to his parents' conversation._

"_What are we going to do, Youkano? This kind of travel . . . it's too hard on someone his age! He's just a baby!"_

"_I know, Anikana, but what other choice do we have? It's either take him and run, leave him at the mercy of the 'True ones', or let –"_

"**Don't **_even mention that, Youkano! I will not leave my son in the hands of that monster! I will not allow that . . . that . . . _**repulsive beast **_anywhere near him!"_

_ Imouku was startled at the venom in his mother's voice. Startled and terrified. He had no idea who she was talking about, but whoever it was sounded scary – mean, even – if it got his mother upset like that. She hardly ever yelled about anything . . . He heard her breathing, harsh and choked at the same time, and realized that she was crying. Now he _knew_ something was wrong. His mother never cried. Ever._

"_Hush, Ani – you'll wake him."_

_ A long, drawn out, shuddering sigh, "I know, 'Kan. I'm sorry, it's just – "_

"_Listen to me, Ani. I promise you, I will not let _anything _happen to either you or Imouku. I swear that I will die before I let Kuuhei lay one filthy claw on you or our son."_

"_Don't say that . . . or it might happen."_

"_It won't. I won't let it."_

_ Kuuhei. . . Imouku didn't know why that name made him so terrified, but he knew that whoever-it-was was not a friend of his Mama or his Father. Unlike his mother, though, he had every confidence that his father could protect him – after all, weren't Fathers invincible? _

_ Suddenly the darkness closed in around him, snuffing out the campfire as well as his parents' voices. A strange sound filled the air, and he recognized it as heavy breathing. Then he was falling, falling into the nothingness below him with no idea when he'd stop or if he ever would._

* * *

With a loud 'THUMP', the darkness parted, and Impmon awoke to find himself staring up into about a dozen faces – most concerned, one trying to stifle his laughter. Somewhat disoriented, Impmon still knew just who was laughing and glared at him, only to send the smaller Digimon into a full-blown giggle fit.

"Terriermon . . . " Jenrya moaned, giving his tactless partner an admonishing look.

"But . . . but Jen . . ."

Jenrya took his partner off to have a talk about laughing at others when they've had an accident while Ai grabbed Impmon in a tight hug.

"Impmon-chan, are you alright? You fell out of the tree and hit your head!"

Oh. Well, that explained the headache, at least. What a nightmare . . . he had thought he had seen the last of dreams like that a long time ago, before he met Ai and Makoto, even. But this was the second one in less than twenty-four hours. Something wasn't right, and he would have to figure it out or risk more accidents happening. He probably shouldn't fall asleep in any high places for a while, that was for certain.

It was only when a hand waved in front of his face that he realized he was being spoken to.

"Impmon? Maybe you should go home. You hit your head pretty hard and you don't look all that good. . . "

"There was a time when he looked good?"

"Terriermon!"

Impmon ignored the smaller Digimon and focused on Takato's face. The human looked pretty worried, and now that he thought about it, so did everyone around him. So he nodded, despite the fact that it pained him. Odd. . . if his Digimon healing abilities were still intact the pain should have dulled a bit by now.

"I'm fine. A little tumble like that can't hurt me! Now leave me alone and go back to your get-together."

Ai instantly saw through her partner's attempt at glossing over his pain by bragging. She knew all-too-well that Impmon never wanted to admit when he was hurt. She also knew that he would sit there and glower at anyone who chanced to look at him. So she knew what she needed to do. With one last wistful glance at Jenrya, she grabbed her partner by the arm and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on, Impmon-chan – we'd better go. I have that math test on Monday an' Mama said that if I don't pass it I won't get that Beelzebumon figure I saw at the store."

She smiled at everyone, blew a kiss at Jenrya –Terriermon promptly teased Jenrya about his 'girlfriend', which earned him an exasperated look - and dragged Impmon away through the park. Once they were out of earshot, and in a relatively secluded place, she let go and stared at him. He stared back.

She narrowed her eyes.

He narrowed his eyes.

She glared at him.

He glared right back.

Then, "What was that about?"

Impmon crossed his arms and looked away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You never fall out of trees for no reason, Impmon. Never, ever. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Liar-liar. Tell me," Her gaze softened. "Please, Impmon-chan . . . I want to help!"

Impmon looked down, then around, as if he expected someone to be listening in on them right at this moment.

"I . . . I had a nightmare, alright?"

Ai's response was instantaneous. Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him tightly, "Poor Impmon-chan! It must've been a bad nightmare to make you fall!"

"Yeah, well . . . Don't tell anyone, okay?"

Ai blinked in confusion. Telling people about her nightmares made it better, so why wouldn't Impmon want anyone to know?

"Okay . . . Not even Makoto?"

". . . You can tell him. Just no-one else."

"Alright, Impmon-chan. Let's go home and get a snack."

Impmon nodded in agreement, reaching up to rub his still-aching head. He didn't really want to travel in his usual manner, so they walked for a few minutes in silence. Then he looked over at her and grinned.

"Ai?"

"Yeah?"

"What was that you said about a Beelzebumon figure?"

"Nothing!"

"_Now_ who's lying?"

In response, Ai simply blew him a raspberry.

* * *

Two days after the accident in the park, Impmon was sitting on the couch watching television. His head still ached from the bump he'd gotten when he'd fallen out of the tree, and he was in a bad mood. Of course, the fact that he kept having nightmares didn't help, either. To make matters worse, they were nearly all half-buried memories – things that he wanted to _stay_ buried.

Ai and Makoto had tried to get him to tell them just what he was having nightmares about, but he stubbornly refused to say. This was mostly because they wouldn't understand and it would mean revealing his greatest secret to them – and that was something he could not do. Now and then he wanted to tell the twins, wanted someone to – at last – know his _real _name, not just his identifier. But always, something held him back.

He was never entirely sure of what it was: Perhaps a fear of rejection, of having to live on the streets again; perhaps of what the 'true' Digimon would think when they found out – would they react differently than the rest of their kind? To be honest he didn't think they'd out-and-out try to kill him, but he knew that it would certainly change things between them.

To make matters worse, there was nothing to watch. He supposed he should be grateful that his Tamers hadn't insisted on his accompanying them to school, but really, he missed the opportunity to get out of the house in the morning. Since Ai had brought him home, still dizzy and somewhat disoriented, the twins' mother wouldn't let him out of her sight.

Kobayashi Amarante was a rather . . . overprotective woman who had a tendency to worry too much, hence the reason why Impmon was spending the day on the couch. He was okay with T.V., but he could only take so much of it.

He flipped idly through the channels, not really looking for anything in particular, and not expecting to find anything. He kept an eye on the redheaded woman in the corner of the room. To all appearances she was ignoring him, happily absorbed in a book of some kind.

Of course, Impmon knew better. The second he so much as looked out the window she'd be all over him.

Nothing got past that woman – at least not anything alive. Ai and Makoto's puppy even knew better than to try anything. Amarante saw _everything_. Which sometimes made Impmon wonder how he had managed to get away from the twins that one night. He suspected she had let him go – she had to have known. The woman was as bad as Renamon in some ways.

Quietly, slowly, Impmon put the remote down, and glanced over at her. Her eyes remained fixed on her book. Still, he waited another few minutes before attempting his next move. Ever so slowly he slid off of the couch, until he was sitting on the floor. This didn't get past her, but she returned her gaze to the book quickly enough.

Now came the hard part. He edged over towards the twins' room – he stood a better chance of escaping from in there. To his surprise she didn't seem to care. Feeling more confident now, he strode boldly into the room and towards the window – only to find it closed.

Oh well, no matter – he'd just have to find a way to open it. Glancing around the room revealed little that cold help him in his quest. Time to get creative, then. After all, if she had let him get this far there was a good chance she'd go ahead and let him leave. If she hadn't wanted him to, she'd have stopped him by now.

Shortly thereafter there ensued a series of bangs, crashes, and odd hammering sounds from within the twins' room. Ai and Makoto's mother looked up from her book and watched Impmon carry something - was that a _spatula_ – into the twins' room. A minute later he came back out empty-handed. Then he came back, this time carrying the music box from her dresser. Just _what _was the little demon up to?

Laying her book aside, Amarante stood up and walked into the twins' room. Impmon wasn't there, and the window was open. The floor was dotted by various pieces of 'equipment': a pen, a feather duster, the vacuum cleaner's motor, etc. Some sort of 'contraption' was hooked to the window and had obviously opened it. The contraption was composed of more random things than Amarante could count, and lots of string, tape, and glue.

With a shrug, she started cleaning up – after all, if he had gone to such elaborate lengths to get out, who was she to stop Impmon? The twins had made him promise to be there when they came home, so she wasn't worried about him coming back late.

* * *

On a crowded street some distance away from the Kobayashi house, a boy of about twelve as walking – well, perhaps 'grooving' was a better word – along. He wasn't particularly short or particularly tall; he was small of frame but looked like he might be a fast runner; he had remote signs of a tan; and he had shocking red hair and bright green eyes. He had an MP3 player clipped onto his shorts and wore a set of headphones – the apparent reason why he was dancing.

He presented an odd picture, dressed all in purple with a red bandanna and gloves, but why should he care? He was seemingly lost in his own little world, dancing to a song only he could hear – until he tripped over someone's foot and nearly smashed his face into that person's garbage. Thankfully his quick reflexes and considerable flexibility let him remain on his feet, and he continued on as if nothing had happened. (With the exception of discreetly setting fire to said person's shoe.)

Imouku didn't do this often, and it wasn't quite as comfortable as his proper form, but it was a good way for him to stretch and relax a bit – not to mention letting him be taller. He got tired of being the size of a human toddler all the time, and this was a lot of fun. The only catch would be if the Tamers caught sight of him, but he doubted they'd recognize him even then.

The only one he really worried about catching him was Renamon. If she figured it out, she'd call him on it. That much he was sure of. Still, he didn't worry too much about that. He had taken some human painkiller for his headache – not the smartest thing to do when you weren't really human -, and it had worked wonderfully. His headache was gone and he felt better than he had in weeks . . .

For no apparent reason he closed his eyes and kept them closed, unaware that he was heading straight past the Matsuda bakery. He continued the strange half-dance, half walk, until he crashed into something. He opened his eyes to see what or whom he hit, and found himself eye-to-eye with Matsuda Takato himself, just arriving home from school. Imouku let out a strangled yelp, and in a moment of panic, ran off as fast as he could go.

Takato blinked and shook his head, staring at where the crazy kid had gone. _'What was that all about? He acted like he thought I was going to eat him or something.'_ Then he shrugged and went in, hoping to get in and get out before he got another homework lecture. That kid did seem awfully familiar though . . . was it the way he dressed? Takato tried to recall what he could in the instant he'd seen the boy, and then it hit him. The kid's outfit made him appear an awful lot like Impmon. Huh. He'd have to tell Impmon he had a fan – the egotistic little thing would love to hear that!

Imouku ran until he could run no further, and then stopped to catch his breath. He really didn't think Takato had seen him long enough to draw any conclusions –at least he hoped not-, but he'd have to avoid any of the Tamers for a while unless he wanted to be asked about it. After a few minutes, he calmed down somewhat, and then the redhead realized that he had overreacted a little bit. Takato had no clue that gijinka even existed, let alone what they might look like.

He relaxed for a minute and took in his surroundings. Great. He'd panicked over nothing and gave the gogglehead more reason to mention his encounter to his friends, and gotten himself about a two-hour's walk home on top of it all! Could this day get any worse? _'Probably not.' _He mused, as he decided to relax and try to enjoy the sights. He'd get home eventually, and Ai and Makoto -

Ai and Makoto! They would have gotten out of school a while ago – if they had gone home and found him missing when he'd _promised_ he'd be there, they might think he'd left them again! He had to get back to them, and quickly! Only . . . where exactly was the house from here?

"This just isn't my day."

"It doesn't seem to be, does it?"

Imouku jumped, startled, and looked in the direction of the speaker. Although partially hidden in the shadows, it was still obvious who had spoken. Cool blue eyes regarded the seemingly human child with an unreadable expression. This was just great – he'd gotten away from one Tamer and run smack into another. . . and this one would be more than capable of putting two-and-two together.

'_Can this day get _**any**_ worse?"_

**-TBC-**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Honestly, I hate this chapter. It took me too long and caused too much trouble for me to like it. There are some elements in it that I'm pretty uncertain about, and that worries me too. Like Ryo - I didn't see very many episodes with him in them, so I'm really worried whether or not he's in character. Then there's the fact that I have a true OC introduced in this chapter -and those are always cause for nervousness-, as well as the start of my major plot points. Plus, I haven't seen an episode of Tamers since I posted the first chapter of this fic, so there's another worry about getting OOC. So, yeah - I'm not really very pleased with this chapter on the whole, and if it displeases you too, so be it. -sighs- .. . It's unbetaed, but I read over it a few times before I posted it, so that counts for something, right?

Disclaimer: This particular view of gijinka is -as far as I know- mine. If not, I'd appreciate someone telling me so. The only characters I own are the ones you don't recognize - I.E.- Kobayashi Amarante, Shurikasa Kourishano-Liritsa, nameless-baddie-to-be-revealed-at-a-later-date, etc. Also, any resemblance to other fics and/or ideas is completely unintentional.

Criticism is welcomed, FLAMES are extinguished by a fire-hose. Thank you.

**Dedicated to: **Sphynx, who is currently gone away on a cruise and isn't able to read this - and to my reviewers.

* * *

'**The Last of the Gijinka'**

Chapter 2

"So, kid –who or what were you running from?"

Imouku was so sure of his secret having been found out that he was caught completely off guard by Ryo's question. Of all the Tamers, Akiyama Ryo would be the one to know of gijinka, having lived in the Digital World for so long. Doubtless he had heard the rumors. The redhead tried to speak, but all that happened was that his throat made a strangled sound. Ryo didn't seem bothered.

"It's alright – you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Apparently noticing that the panicked look hadn't left the younger's eyes, Ryo grinned and motioned to him. "Come on, you can stay with me until you feel safer. No-one's going to bother you while I'm around."

Imouku only nodded, still rather shell-shocked that his secret was, even now, safe. Despite his desire to return to Ai and Makoto as soon as possible, he let himself be guided through the streets to wherever Ryo was taking him.

"So where are you from? I could probably figure out a way to get you home from here, if you needed me to."

It was out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "West Shinjuku."

Ryo only nodded. "I know where that is. I have a few friends that live there. Hey, what's your name, anyway? I don't want to have to call you 'kid' all the time, and somehow I don't think you want that either."

This was something he could tell him – telling him his real name would do no more harm than telling him a fake name. . . at least he hoped so.

"Imouku."

Ryo seemed startled by that, and turned to look at him with such a piercing stare that Imouku nearly stopped breathing. Then he seemed to shrug it off.

"_Imouku_, huh? Interesting name. Don't think I've ever heard anyone with it before."

Imouku shook his head absently, staring with longing at a nearby noodle cart. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until now. "You wouldn't – my parents couldn't agree on what to call me so they just decided to make up a name. . . " '_Those noodles sure smell good. I wonder if I can get this guy off my back long enough to nab a few cartons . . .'_

"Hey, it's almost sundown and I bet you can't get back to your home before dark. I can talk my Otou-san into letting you stay at my place tonight and see about getting you home tomorrow morning, if you want."

As much as Imouku wanted to say no, he had to get back home _right now_, he didn't have much of a choice. The way Ryo was looking at him told him more than anything he'd known before that the brunette knew exactly what –and who- he was. If he did leave he'd only be confirming the taller's suspicions, and that was the last thing he wanted right now. So he'd just have to wait it out, and hope that the twins wouldn't jump to the wrong conclusion.

'_Gomen nasai, Ai, Mako-chan.'_

* * *

When Ai and Makoto got home from school, they hadn't immediately panicked. Despite his promises, Impmon had occasionally been late getting home, and though it did worry them, it was nothing to go to pieces over. However, when almost three hours had passed, both twins were near the point of breaking down. 

Their mother did her best to alleviate their fear, but she was worried,too. She told herself that she should never have let him leave like that when he was still injured. There was no telling what might have happened to him. He might be able to take care of himself in some respects, but the little demon had a way of landing himself in trouble at the worst times.

"Okaa-san, what if he doesn't come back? Did we do something wrong?" Ai asked tearfully, stifling a sniffle.

"No, Ai, you didn't do anything wrong. Impmon will come back, I'm sure of it. He just may have gotten a little . . . side-tracked."

"But Okaa-san, he _promised_ he'd come back, and he didn't!"

Amarante sighed and stroked her son's hair, offering the twins a reassuring smile.

"Then he must have a good reason for not coming back yet. Can you think of one?"

Ai frowned thoughtfully, while Makoto cocked his head and stared at the ceiling. For a few minutes, the room was quiet. Then Makoto looked up.

"Maybe he had to fight a really big Digimon and it took him a while to beat it!"

Not to be outdone, Ai spoke up. "Or maybe he went out and got lost, and had to ask for directions. That would take a long time, 'cause most people don't seem to like him."

"All right then. We agree that Impmon probably has a reason for not being home right now. So let's give him the rest of the night to come home, and if he's not here when we get up, we can go look for him."

"Okaa-san, how are we going to do that? Tomorrow's only Saturday – we have school!"

To this protest, their mother only raised an eyebrow.

"Since when have you two ever turned down an opportunity to miss school?"

Ai and Makoto looked at each other and considered. It wasn't that they didn't want to miss school – they'd appreciate that. It was merely that they didn't want to miss school because Impmon was gone. They'd much rather have him safe at home while they went to school, when it came down to it. Still, they would get to personally look for their partner – and maybe they could get the other Tamers to help them too.

Finally, Ai nodded.

"All right Okaa-san – we'll look tomorrow." She turned to her brother, and elbowed him sharply in the ribs when she saw him staring into space with a ridiculous grin. "Makoto! Snap out of it!"

" . . . I can ask Ruki to have Renamon look. . . "

Ai blinked, then waved a hand in front of her brother's eyes. When he showed no response, she shrugged and hugged her mother.

"Arigato, Okaa-san!"

* * *

"Headache?" 

Imouku jumped, and turned from his place at the window to look at Ryo. Hastily pulling his hand away from his head he blinked and tried to look innocent. It was a few hours after dinner, and Ryo's father had agreed to let Imouku stay the night – but only one night, and he was to go straight home in the morning. Ryo was being allowed time out of school to escort him back.

When he had heard this, Imouku nearly panicked, buteventually settled down to work out a plan. While this was happening, his painkillers wore off, causing the return of the headache that had been bothering him. Naturally, Imouku didn't dare let on that he was suffering from a headache, as it would make it only too obvious whom he was.

"Nah – I'm fine."

Ryo blinked at him, then shook his head. "Right. And I'm a Numemon. But if you insist, I won't bring it up again."

Imouku nodded, and then returned to looking out the window – a position he had been in for about an hour. Then his stomach growled. ".. . . I'm hungry."

Ryo blinked.

"Again? But you just ate enough for five people!"

Imouku blushed, "Erhm . .. . High metabolism, I guess?"

Ryo shook his head, "You can stop the act, kid. You know who I am, and I have a pretty good idea of who you are. I lived in the Digital world for months – you know I heard the stories."

Imouku turned and gazed at him unblinkingly.

"Then you know most of those stories aren't true."

Ryo half-smiled, "Yeah, I gathered that. The stories sound like myths; I never actually thought that gijinka might be real. I guess they are though, because that's what you are, right? Or am I going crazy?"

At a loss for words, Imouku only nodded.

Ryo didn't seem to be too surprised.

"Well, you don't _seem_ like a vicious, baby-killing monster."

Instead of looking amused, Imouku only looked sad in a somewhat-distant fashion.

"Not anymore, anyway."

Ryo stared at him then, and it was another penetrating stare, "No. . . ," he said slowly, "Not anymore . . . Impmon."

So Ryo _had _figured it out. Now what was going to happen? Obviously, the Tamer didn't believe the rumors, but that didn't mean he wouldn't tell the other Tamers, and who knew what _they_ would think. Imouku waited only a second before starting to climb out the window – only to be yanked back by his shirttail.

"Hey, lemmee go," he yelled, struggling against the Tamer's grip – he considered burning Ryo but didn't think that would go over too well with Cyberdramon, and he just didn't feel like taking on the Perfect right now.

Instead, he settled for biting the boy. However, Ryo was prepared for it and didn't let go. They struggled for a few minutes more, until Ryo finally gave up and spoke directly into Imouku's ear.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not going to tell anyone about you – you don't have to worry about that. So if I let go, will you promise not to run away and at least try to sort this thing out? You're not going to make it home until tomorrow anyway, and I'm sure Ai and Makoto will be waiting for you."

Hearing the names of his twin Tamers stopped Imouku on the spot. He shot Ryo a dirty look and stuck his tongue out, but stopped struggling to get away. His stomach growled again, reminding him of his hunger, and his expression changed from irritated to pleading in half a second.

"Alright, I'll stay. .. but only if I get something to eat again."

Ryo laughed, "At this rate we'll be out of food by morning, but okay. I'll get you something to eat, you can stay here for the night, and I'll take you home in the morning. But first we'll take back that MP3 player you swiped."

"I didn't steal nothing!"

"Exactly. You did _not_ steal nothing – you stole _something_. And you're going to take it back, too. _Without _incinerating it first."

"Aww. .. ."

"Sorry, kid. That's the way it goes if you want food."

* * *

_He was alone._

_Not that he wasn't used to it by now, of course. But still, it bothered him that he was alone. Not just alone in the fact that he didn't have his parents, but alone because he didn't think there were any gijinka around – probably no more. He hadn't changed out of his digimon form since his Mama told him to hide that day – even when he digivolved to Impmon._

_He wanted a friend – someone who wouldn't hurt him or turn him away. He had had a friend once, and made the mistake of telling the Floramon what he was – he'd had to run for his life from an angry Kiwimon. No, he'd never tell anyone again. _

_That didn't mean that he wouldn't take a friend, though. Just so he wouldn't be alone. Or weak. He hated being so young, so weak – always having to run, never able to fight back because if he did, he would almost certainly die. He wanted to be able to fight, to win – to be strong. Maybe then it wouldn't hurt so much to be alone._

_Spotting a solitary Piyomon nearby, he decided that now was as good a time as any to test his strength. Unfortunately, the Piyomon saw him coming and was more than prepared for him. He wasn't alone, after all – two Garudamon had immediately come up to defend him._

_Luckily they weren't in the mood to killthe gijinka– just left him beaten half to death so that anything else that came along could take his data. The last thought on the nine-year-old gijinka's mind before he fell unconscious was the thought that he was still alone. . . _

_He woke up. _

_That in itself wasn't surprising, but he was shocked to find out he wasn't alone anymore either. He was staring at two small things . . . they couldn't possibly be _humans_, could they? How could he have gotten to the Real world? Apparently he had, though, as one of the twosome gave him an experimental poke._

"_What is it?"_

"_I dunno . . . poke it again – see if it moves."_

_When the one with short hair reached out to poke him again, he slapped the kid's hand away._

"_Quit that, it hurts!"_

_Instantly the hand withdrew, and he found himself staring at two completely speechless human children. "Hey, what's the big deal? I told you to stop poking me, not to stand there with your mouths hanging open!"_

_The girl found her voice first, "What .. . what's your name?"_

_He almost slipped and said 'Imouku', but decided not to, knowing that it couldn't be safe to tell them, not even here where there were apparently notrue Digimon. He grinned at the kids –he thoughtthey were a few years younger than he was, but he couldn't be too sure. _

"_Impmon."_

_The girl smiled then, a big, happy smile that took up her entire face, "Hi Impmon! I'm Ai and this is Makoto – but Okaa-san calls him Mako-chan 'cause he's littler than me."_

"_Am not!"_

"_Are too!"_

"_Am not!"_

"_Are too! I'm older!"_

"_By two minutes!"_

"_Uh-uh – three, an' Okaa-san says I'm asponsible for you!"_

_Blinking his great green eyes, Imouku watched the twins argue. Maybe he had found some friends after all._

"_Are not!"_

"_Are too!"_

"_Are not!"_

_. . . That is, if they learned not to argue. Eh, he had to hold out hope for them. They were just little kids. As long as he didn't wind up getting hurt by it, he could handle a little arguing._

* * *

"Moshi-moshi." 

"_Kobayashi-san? I'm Akiyama Ryo, one of the Tamers . . . Takato called this morningand told me that Impmon vanished last night. Well, you don't have to worry, he stayed with me last night. I think he got lost – anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm bringing him back. I thought Ai and Makoto might like to know that he's okay."_

Ai and Makoto, secretly listening on another phone, shared a relieved grin. When their mother came in and told them the news, the first one to speak was Makoto.

"Does this mean we don't get to miss school?"

The look his mother shot him told Makoto clearly that his question was not appreciated. Thus it was that the twins were in school when Ryo brought a sulking Impmon home. The gijinka had changed back to his Digimon form before they left, insisting Ryo not tell anyone – not even Cyberdramon – who he really was. When they had reached an area Impmon was familiar with, he had tried toget Ryo toleave.

"I know my way home from here – you can_go away_now."

"No. I told Kobayashi-san that I was bringing you back, and I'm going to. Besides, I can't be sure you'll go straight home anyway."

"What, you don't trust me?"

"To go home when your Tamers are in school? Not particularly."

"That hurts," Impmon mock whined.

"Sure it does."

"I can still make it home myself, you know."

"I know you can – but I figured we needed to talk."

"We've **_been _**talking this whole time!"

"Do Ai and Makoto love you because of your attitude or do you only act this way around other people?" Ryo asked, his annoyance with Impmon beginning to show.

"Now why would I tell you something like that?"

"I have no idea why you would. I just thought I'd try. Say . . . "

"What? I gave back that stupid music thingy!"

"No, it's not that – and don't think I didn't notice you take another one when you returned that one. Actually I was thinking – "

"That's dangerous for your health, you know."

"You _would _know about that, wouldn't you?"

"Hey!"

"Anyway, do you think that maybe the reason you have two tamers is because of what you are?"

Impmon looked down from the telephone wires he was walking on, then jumped down to stand beside Ryo and glare up at the Tamer.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ryo continued walking, unperturbed.

"I mean that you're the only one with two Tamers. You're also the only gijinka – don't you think that there might be a connection there?"

"Never thought about it, and I don't care."

" . . . You don't care about much, do you?"

Impmon shrugged, "I can't afford to. Besides, I don't _have _to care – I'm too cool!"

Ryo would have responded to that, but by this time they had reached the Kobayashi home, where the twins' mother was waiting in the yard. As soon as she saw the twosome, she proceeded to run over and lecture Impmon as if he were one of her own children. Impmon, in turn,reacted like a rebellious child – refusing to tell her anything, and sticking his tongue out at her whenever he felt like it. After about five minutes, Amarante ordered him inside and told him to "stay there - Digimon or not, so help me I will spank you within an inch of your life if you take one step outside that door!"

Impmon - obviously used to this empty threat- just grinned at her and jumped in through an open window, where he winked at Ryo before vanishing from sight.

'_Someone's off to raid the refrigerator,' _Ryo thought, amused.

"That Digimon is worse than my own children . . . but I'd hate to lose him. You have my thanks for finding him – I don't know what Ai and Makoto would have done if you hadn't brought him back. The poor things were so upset last night that they barely slept a wink. Would you like to come in for a moment? I'll see if I can give you some cookies before Impmon eats them all."

"_Gomen_, Kobayashi-san, but I can't. I have to get back home. I was only allowed out of school to bring Impmon back."

"Oh, that's all right. I understand – you don't want to get in trouble," – a crash from inside the house interrupted the woman and made her wince – ". . . and I should go inside before my entire house gets destroyed by _someone."_

* * *

When Ai and Makoto returned home from school, they half expected Impmon to be gone, or at least chained to some part of the furniture. They were half right, judging by the sounds coming from inside. Seeing no signs of their mother or Impmon, they followed the sound of voices to the kitchen . . . and stopped dead in their tracks. 

Impmon was sitting, very uncomfortably, in a highchair that wasa bittoo small for him– which he obviously did not want to be in, judging by the look on his white face. The twins looked questioningly at their mother, who smiled when they came in.

"Ai, Mako-chan! Look who's come home!"

At that, Impmon turned around as far as he could and looked completely humiliated.

"Get me out of this thing, you two!"

The twins marched toward the chair, intent on getting their partner out, but were stopped by their mother.

"Now, now, Impmon – I need to know you're staying out of trouble – and if keeping you in that thing is the only way to do it, then that's what will have to happen."

Makoto blinked at Impmon, "What did you _do_?" For his own part, he had never been punished like this and couldn't think what his partner had done to warranta punishment this harsh.

"Nothing, really. I was just hungry! This is unfair treatment."

" I have to go buy another two weeks worth of groceries because of what you ate in ten minutes – I think that anotherten minutes in this chair is hardly 'unfair treatment'."

"That's just because you don't have a tail!"

Ai and Makoto looked at eachother and quietly edged out of the room. Once they were clear, they ran for it. Impmon continued arguing with Amarante, not even noticing that the twins were gone.

Twenty minutes later, the twins and Impmon were walking to the Matsuda bakery in order to help replace some of the food Impmon had eaten. Impmon was going because Ai and Makoto had begged their mother –otherwise he might still be under 'house arrest'. As it was, he didn't look too thrilled to be going, which worried his Tamers to no end – Impmon always enjoyed a change to tease Guilmon.

"What's wrong, Impmon-chan?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I'm fine."

Ai looked up at him – way up, as he was walking on telephone wires again. "No lying, Impmon-chan."

"I'm not lying!"

Makoto looked up at him then, and nodded. "You are too!"

"No I'm no-" Impmon faltered in mid-sentence and stopped, staring at something about half a block away. His eyes widened to their limit and he took off in the direction of what he had seen, ignoring –or perhaps not hearing- his Tamers' pleas as they tried to keep up with him.

"Impmon-chan!"

"Impmon-chan!"

He came to a halt just outside the alley, and peered cautiously in. There was nothing there. Disappointment flashed briefly in his eyes, and he turned back to his Tamers, who were just now starting to catch up. He was walking back dejectedly when he spotted what he was looking for and was off again, this time managing to keep it in sight until he had it cornered in another alley.

It was a 'she'. . . and she was another gijinka. She was older than he was – about Ryo's age, maybe, and her species was an Elecmon – made all the more obvious by her nine tails, and the long red ears peeking out of dark blue hair, as well as her clothing, which consisted of a no sleeve, low cut top anda skirt- both bore her Digimon markings. She also wore leg and arm warmers, but was barefoot. Her bright blue eyes, set in an alabaster-pale face, shone with terror- belatedly, Impmon realized that she was scared of him.

"I won't hurt you, you know."

She looked anything but convinced, her tails standing on end, electricity starting to spark between them.

"Why should I believe you?"

Impmon only hesitated for a second before deciding to take a chance on trusting her, and shifted to his true form – something he hadn't done in four years.

"Because I'm like you."

The Elecmon gijinka's eyes showed her surprise as she gasped for air. Sheseemed to have been running for a long time, asshe sank down against the wall, completely exhausted and shivering with terror.

"I didn't . . . I didn't ever think there could be another gijinka _here_! My name's Surikasa Kourishano-Liritsa . . . are you . . . are you running from _them,_ too?"

Imouku blinked, confused by her statement.

"What are you talking about?"

"You mean you don't know about _them_? How long have you _been_ in the real world?"

"Three years, off and on."

"Then you _wouldn't_ know – wait, what do you mean 'off and on'?"

"I went back for a while."

"Now that's a story I'm interested in . . . but I have to go – If I stay in one place too long _they'll _find me. Nice meeting you – hey, what was your name, anyway?"

"Imouku Youkano-Anikana."

She was gone before he could even wonder why she looked so shocked at his name. Hastily, he shifted out of his natural form – an exact copy of his human form with the addition of his tail, fangs, and his Digimon ears instead of his human ones – and back into his Digimon form. It was just in time, too, for Ai and Makoto came up to him then, breathing extremely hard from their run.

"Impmon-chan, why'd you run away?"

"I Thought I saw something."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you didn't run away from usagain, Impmon-chan," said Ai right before she kissed his cheek. Impmon blushed.

"Alright, enough with the touchy-feely stuff. We need to go get food! I'm starving!"

Shurikasa watched from the shadows as Impmon followed his Tamers down the street, then raced off. She reached her contact point within minutes, and found herself being pulled back to the Digital World. This was a process she had gotten used to over the past year of reconnaissance to the Real World – a process that few knew about except for the Sovereigns, and they weren't too bothered by it for some reason known only to them. Once there, she ran into a scout for her master. A fellow gijinka, he was in Digimon form – a Tuskmon.

Shurikana approached him without fear. There was a smile on her face – an overly pleased smile – as she leaned towards the scout and whispered, "Tell our Master I've found the one he's been searching for."

A snort was the scout's only verbal reply, as he motioned for her to climb on. Apparently, she would have to make this report in person.

* * *

"**I won't let you hurt them!"**_ Imouku heard himself scream. He half-noticed that he was standing protectively in front of the Tamers – nearly all of who were unconscious. A dark figure loomed in front of him, and he couldn't indentify what it was. He was in his natural form, and it was raining._

_His hair was soaked and rainwater dripped into his eyes. He glared at the monster in front of him, the one who had done this. Somehow he would have to defeat it, even as beaten up as he was – even with a broken arm and his Digimon form locked away – he _had_ to defeat it. His Tamers' lives depended on it. _

"_**Little fool . . . do you really think you can stand up to me?"**_

_Imouku only hesitated for a second before replying, with his head bowed toward his chest, " Yes."_

"_**Then you will pay for your foolishness – with your life!"**_

Impmon woke up just as the attack was launched toward him. He gasped for breath, trying to calm down before Ai and Makoto woke up and checked on him – the last thing he needed right now was worrying them even more. It took a few minutes for him to calm down, but he eventually did. However, he knew he wouldn't be getting any more sleep tonight unless he did something, so he headed for the T.V.

Television always could put him to sleep. As he resolutely climbed onto the couch and turned the set on – albeit at a low volume, lest it wake up Amarante and her husband – he couldn't help but think back to his dream. It had been completely clear to him when he awoke, but was extremely fuzzy now.

He remembered something about rain . . . and wanting to protect his Tamers. . . something big, scary; since when did anything scare him, though? He also remembered hurting – hurting nearly as badly as he had after the fight with the D-Reaper. Gradually, his thoughts grew fuzzier as the television droned on, and eventually he fell asleep. The last thought on his mind was the Elecmons gijinka he had met today, and why A.) he hadn't been able to sense her, and B.), why she didn't shift to her Digimon form.

'_I don't trust her. . . '_

Finally, the only sounds in the house were the droning of the T.V. and Impmon's soft snores.

-**TBC-**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **I LIVE! Isn't it a shocker? And I'm inspired again, thanks to being able to watch any Episode of Tamers I want anytime I want. Just another reason I love the internet. ;) I have spent the last few days becoming reacquainted with Digimon in general, and am now attempting to start this story up again. See, I know exactly where I'm going with this; I just don't know how to get there. I know it's awkward to give Impmon both a human form and a 'gijinka' form, when gijinka actually MEANS human form, but oh well. XD What can I say, time provides new insights. . . and repeated viewings of Tamers definitely helps.

I'm extremely nervous at to how this chapter will turn out, mainly because of the fact that the OC I introduced last chapter has a growing role. But thank goodness, she's evil. Evil OCs are good. I think. And I really, really am worried because the rest of the tamers, and one in particular (Surprisingly not Ryo this time) have much larger appearances. Still, it will be interesting to see what everybody thinks. I'm personally not too pleased with this chapter, but then again I never am.

**Disclaimer: **It should be obvious by now who I own and who I don't. But just in case, here's the list of who I own: Kobayashia Amaranter, Shurikasa, and the big baddie. Other than that, they're not mine.

**Clarification:** As a Digimon, Impmon is Impmon. I will only refer to him as Imouku when he's in either his gijinka form or his human form. Which is admittedly not often in this chapter, but in the upcoming ones. . . well, you'll see. ;) I do have some Japanese terms mixed in here along with the Japanese names, but they're very basic, and I may have gotten some things mixed up. However, if I make a blatant mistake, I am willing to fix it. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

**The Last of the Gijinka**

**Chapter Three**

Fortunately for the Kobayashi household, life settled back into its usual routine fairly quickly. Impmon's nightmares had stopped, and his headache had vanished with them. Ai and Makoto gradually relaxed; satisfied that their partner wasn't going to pull any more disappearing acts on them anytime soon. On a Saturday afternoon, about a week and a half after Impmon spotted the other gijinka, he and his tamers were sitting in their living room, watching television.

Or at least, Ai was. It was her turn to choose the program, so the T.V. was currently set on some kind of magical girl anime. Not that Impmon and Makoto particularly cared. Makoto was patiently trying to figure out the Digimon card came, and Impmon was munching on a banana while alternately spending time with Ai and looking over Makoto's shoulder at his cards.

". . . Why are you playing that card, Mako-chan?"

"Well. . . I've seen Ruki-san play it lots of times when she plays Ryo-san. . ."

"Oh, alright then. . ."

"Impmon-chan! Come see this – it's the best part!"

Impmon wandered back over to Ai and stared at the screen, where the heroine of the anime was just triumphing over some kind of monster. He shrugged and sat down next to her. It didn't particularly interest him, but if it kept his Tamer happy then it must not be too bad. Ai cheered as the episode ended, then stood up and turned the television off. She babbled happily about everything that went on in the episode, with a lot of "Did you see?" and "It was soooo cool when . . ." among other comments. Impmon nodded, only half-listening to the little girl's commentary.

There was a movement at the window, and Impmon was instantly on the alert. There was something out there, and it was watching him. Watching them. He walked casually in the direction of the window, then threw it open with a cry, ready to Night of Fire whoever-it-was into the next district.

"Hi Impmon! Wanna play, culu culu?"

Impmon almost fell over.

"Culumon? Aren't you supposed to be with Juri?"

Culumon flew into the room and landed on the couch, where he pouted.

"Juri and her dad went somewhere together and her dad said I couldn't come. So I decided to find someone to play with! Will you play with me, culu?" The small Digimon asked with a bright smile.

Impmon crossed his arms and turned his head away with a stubborn look on his face.

"No way! Go find somebody else to play with."

Makoto looked up from his practicing and shared a glance with Ai. Together, the two moved in front of Impmon. Clasping their hands together, they let their eyes fill with tears as their lower lips trembled. They spoke in unison,

"Please, Impmon-Chan! Let Culumon stay with us!"

"We can play tag," Ai spoke up.

"We could play hide-and-seek," said Makoto.

Again together, "_Please,_ Impmon-chan!"

Like he had done many times before, Impmon folded under their pleas.

"Alright, alright! Culumon can play with us . . . just stop with the waterworks already!"

Oddly enough, Impmon found himself enjoying Culumon's company once he got past his initial jealousy; the small Digimon was useful in keeping his tamers occupied. With some extra convincing from Ai and Makoto, Impmon agreed to join in an impromptu game of tag. The rest of the afternoon was spent in absolute bliss.

That evening, however, was a different story.

Ai and Makoto had gone to bed; Calumon having gone back to Juri's several hours before. Impmon couldn't sleep, though, and soon was out on the prowl, enjoying the night. Somehow he had the distinct feeling that if the twins' mother ever found out about his real identity and age, he wouldn't be allowed these late-night excursions; therefore, he relished every one of them.

Strolling along the edge of a billboard, Impmon couldn't help but think about the flashbacks he'd had recently. It confused him, because he hadn't thought about those things in ages, so why would they overwhelm him now? As he wondered about them and why they were happening, he felt a creeping pain start up inside his head again and he rubbed it in irritation.

"Stupid headache, why do you keep coming back to bother me?"

He nearly jumped out of his fur when he heard a voice next to his ear, "Talking to yourself again, Impmon?"

Impmon turned and saw Renamon standing next to him. He glared at the taller Child and shook a fist at her.

"Quit sneaking up on me like that! You could give a 'mon a heart attack with all that invisibility stuff," Impmon glowered and rubbed a hand at his head again, "Do you get some kind of a thrill out of it or something?"

"You're still suffering from headaches?"

He shrugged, "Comes and goes. Nothing I can't handle."

Her concern was obvious as Renamon replied, "That's not normal, Impmon, and it's also not healthy. Have you given any thought to what might be causing these headaches?"

He shrugged, "No, I haven't. What's it to -"

_Suddenly he wasn't standing on a billboard talking to Renamon; he was on the sandy, windy plains of the Digital World, staring up at a towering figure that was laughing at him as it drew ever closer. He tried to move, but found himself frozen. He tried to speak, to shout, but could not. All he could do was stare in abject terror as the imposing figure drew closer, with the most triumphant sounding laugh he had ever heard._

"Impmon? _Impmon_!"

"Huh? Wazzit?"

Impmon blinked, and noticed he was back on the edge of the billboard. Had he ever even really left? Then he noticed that Renamon was holding the back of his bandanna, apparently keeping him from falling off the edge. Angrily, he swatted her away from him, then grabbed at his head as his headache returned with a pounding vengeance. The fox Digimon made no motion to help him, but was obviously concerned.

"Impmon," she said quietly, attempting to get his attention without aggravating his headache. "Impmon, what was that?"

Impmon rubbed at his eyes and shook his head, trembling. "I have no idea . . . I'm . . . I'm gonna go home now." Then he appeared to collect himself and glared at her, "And don't you even think about following me this time, 'cause I'm fine!"

He took off, jumping across buildings as he raced for home, frantically trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Renamon stared after him for several moments before vanishing and returning to Ruki's home. While she'd never betray anything that had happened here, nothing stopped her from worrying about the little imp, especially since he had passed out so suddenly, and for no apparent reason. There was also no way she would mention to anyone, not even Ruki, that, for a split second, Impmon . . . had not been a Digimon.

She had a lot to think about tonight.

* * *

Shurikasa was _not_ enjoying her most recent assignment. While she had received a promotion due to her discovery of Youkano and Anikana's child, she had also been given orders that made her want to rip out her hair. Spying from a distance she could handle, but infiltration . . . that was not going to be easy. Still, it wasn't like she had a choice or anything. The Gijinka had to act as one if they were to achieve their goal, and that meant she had to do her part; no matter how much she hated it.

She set off across the city in search of her intended target. She knew which of the Tamers would be the easiest to convince; she had been watching them for a long time. It took her about an hour, but she reached her target's home, where both he and his partner Digimon were sound asleep. She settled in for a night of watching the boy, formulating her plan of action. She really hoped this human didn't start snoring; if he did, she'd never be able to concentrate.

As if on cue, loud snores filled the air, and Shurikasa slapped her forehead in irritation. Of course this kid would have the worst sleeping habits of all the humans in Shinjuku.

"ZzzzzzzzzZzzzz… I finally beat you, Ruki. .. . ZzzzzZzzzz. . . . who's the Digimon Queen now? Wait. . . . Zzz… Don't answer that. . . ."

* * *

"Impmon-chan. . . ?"

"Impmon-chan .. .?"

Ai and Makoto sat up, sleepily rubbing their eyes as they glanced at their exceptionally shaken-up partner. Impmon jumped, startled, and then gave his Tamers what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He didn't need them to worry, after all. They were just little kids and this problem had nothing to do with them.

"Go back to sleep, you two. I'm fine."

Ai blinked, "You don't look fine, Impmon-chan." Her hair was down from its pigtails and hung down to the top of her pink and blue nightgown in auburn waves.

"Yeah – you look like I did when I ate all those cookies at Shuichon's birthday party," Makoto chimed in, miming an upset stomach by hugging his belly through his black Beelzebumon pajamas. "You're not gonna throw up, are you?"

"Nah, I'm not. Go back to sleep – we have lots to do tomorrow, remember?"

"We do?" Both twins asked, sleepy and confused.

"Of course we do!"

"What are we doing?"

"Yeah, what are we doing?"

"It's . . . a surprise, yeah, that's it. It's a surprise," Impmon stopped and shook a finger at them, watching with some amusement as their eyes followed the motion. "But you'll only get it if you go back to sleep, okay you two?"

The twosome nodded and lay back down. They were asleep within minutes. Impmon stood and watched them for a bit. He loved those kids, he really did – and he'd do anything to protect them. Even if that meant that he had to lie to them, he would protect them. Which was one of the reasons tonight had made him so nervous.

At least before when these things had occurred, he'd been asleep. Having one while he was awake was an entirely different experience. Plus, somehow, it had felt _different_, almost as if someone was reaching out to him, and not in a good way. That scared him, however much he hated to admit it.

'_And I thought the nightmares were bad enough! Now I'm seeing them while I'm awake!'_

As tired as he was, Impmon didn't think he'd be getting much sleep tonight. He wandered out of the twins' room and into the kitchen, intent on up a snack. Maybe getting something to eat would clear his head.

It took several minutes, but Impmon was finally able to grab a snack that pleased him: an entire box of those funny little ginger snap cookies. He was in the process of dumping the contents into his mouth when he heard footsteps approaching, and a conspicuous cough from somewhere above him. The light was flipped on, and he turned to the door with a deer-caught-in-headlights expression.

"Uh. . . it's not what it looks like?"

Kobayashi Amarante only raised an eyebrow and pointed at the pantry. Sulkily, Impmon stood up and returned the box. This fact alone caused the twins' mother to frown in concern. Impmon never did what she asked, at least not without a good five minutes of arguing before hand.

"Something's wrong, isn't it?"

Impmon shrugged, refusing to meet her eyes, "No, and so what if something were wrong?"

"Impmon, if something's wrong you need to tell me. If it involves you then it's eventually going to involve Ai and Makoto, and I have a right to know if my children are going to be going into a dangerous situation."

Impmon let out a frustrated growl and jumped on top of the table so that he was eye-level with the adult human. "Nothing's wrong, alright? And even if something were wrong I'd never let Ai and Mako-chan get caught up in it!"

Amarante was unruffled, "I know you wouldn't intend to get them involved, Impmon, but you know how they are. Ever since they've been old enough to understand Digimon a little better, they've been dying to see the Digital World. If something happened that made you wind up there, I can't promise you I'd be able to keep them at home. So please Impmon, tell me if anything is going on – I'd just appreciate some warning. Besides, I worry about you too; you do know that, don't you?"

Impmon blushed as he replied, "Yeah . . . I know that. But nothing's wrong."

"Alright then. Good night, Impmon."

"'Night."

Once Amarante had turned out the light and left, Impmon got the box of cookies back out of the pantry and resumed swallowing them at a rapid pace. Once the box was finished, he at last felt himself growing drowsy, and shuffled back to his Tamers' room where he promptly collapsed into sleep. For this night, at least, it was dreamless.

Morning came all too soon, however, and soon Impmon found himself tackled by two overly-energetic nine-year-olds. Both were fully dressed and practically bouncing with excitement. Ai's hair was again pulled back into its customary pigtails, tied with little purple ribbons. Unlike her jumpers, she wore a purple long-sleeved shirt with slits up the sides of the sleeves and a black skort. Makoto was also dressed differently than his usual, in a black imitation-leather jacket that he had recently begged his mother for, a bright blue t-shirt and loose blue pants.

". . . Whoah, you two. What's the occasion? Why are you so dressed up?" Impmon wondered, blinking sleepily.

The twins giggled, and Ai spoke up. "Remember what you promised us last night, Impmon-chan?"

". . . _Nani_?"

"Our surprise, Impmon-chan! Our surprise!" And Makoto was off, running around the room, grabbing various things he thought he'd need for Impmon's "surprise".

Impmon rubbed at one bright green eye and stretched. "Oh, right. That surprise. Um . . . tell you what, you two. Let's go outside and I'll give you your surprise there. And Mako-chan . . . I don't think you'll need any of that stuff," he stated, pointing at the toy robot Makoto was attempting to fit into his little backpack.

Not five minutes later, all three were standing in the backyard, where the twins' dog watched them, wagging his tail. He'd grown into a rather large dog, winding up bigger than Impmon. Impmon did not particularly like the pooch, but never admitted it to his Tamers because it would upset them.

"What're we doing out here, Impmon-chan?"

"Yeah, I thought we were going to do something special!"

"Hey, guys, come on – when have I ever let you down?"

"Um . . ."

"Well . . ."

"Y'see? Now come on. We're going to go flying."

Makoto blinked, "You mean like in an airplane, Impmon-chan?"

Impmon puffed up, dusting his chest off with one hand, "Trust me, Mako-chan. This'll be _way _betterthan any airplane."

* * *

Shiota Hirokazu was not having a very good day. He'd had a dream the night before that had started out wonderful – he had actually beaten Ruki at the card game and was about to make a huge speech, when he'd looked down and found himself wearing a dress, and everyone had started laughing at him. Then, he'd woken up and immediately stubbed his toe as soon as he climbed out of bed, and unfortunately found that they were out of his favorite breakfast.

He'd gotten dressed only to find his favorite visor missing, and when he found it, he'd managed to bang his head on a shelf. He'd gotten his cards together and gone out, intent on playing against Ruki, but had successfully dropped them all at least twice.

No, Hirokazu was not having a good day at all.

"Come on, Guardromon! We're already running late; I'll never beat Ruki if we don't get there soon!"

He turned around and called back to his partner, who was following as discreetly as the large Machine Digimon could. However, this meant that he wasn't watching where he was going and he tripped, falling flat on his face. He grumbled to himself as he sat up and rubbed his nose, noticing that it was bleeding a little.

"Oh, my – are you alright? That was a really nasty fall."

Hirokazu looked over in the direction of the voice, and his jaw dropped. Standing there was a rather pretty girl, apparently older than him. Dark blue hair, light blue eyes, weird clothing but hey, why should he be picky? His preteen heart thudded in his chest as he quickly gathered up his thrice-spilled cards and stood up.

"Yeah . . . Yeah, I'm alright," He muttered dazedly, still rather in shock that such a pretty girl – an older one, no less – was speaking to _him_ of all people. The girl smiled and cast a curious glance at his cards.

"I'm glad. Hey, is that a card game?"

"You've never heard of Digimon?"

Her head tilted in confusion, the girl gave him a quizzical look, "Digimon? What's that?"

To say Hirokazu was shocked would have been the understatement of the century.

"**_You've never heard of Digimon?_"**

She blinked, "Should I have?"

Hirokazu nodded fiercely, "It's _only_ the greatest card game ever invented!"

She giggled, "Wow, you must be really good at it, then. Could you teach me to play?"

"Um. . . Sure! Sure! Better prepare yourself - hey, what's your name, anyway?"

"Shurikasa."

"Pretty name. Anyway, as I was saying," he took a deep breath, "Better prepare yourself, Shurikasa, because you're about to learn from the master, Shiota Hirokazu!"

'_Hook, line, and sinker,' _Shurikasa thought to herself as she watched the visor-wearing boy brag.

* * *

"Ai! Makoto! Phone call for you – It's Takato."

Ai and Makoto ran into the house upon hearing their mother's call, giggling like mad. They waved at their partner who was idly leaning against a tree. He was in his Ultimate form, and had a very pleased smile on his face. He'd known his Tamers would enjoy flying with him, but he hadn't thought that they would keep him at it for four hours. Beelzebumon was nearly worn out enough to return to his rookie form – he had the feeling that one more flight would just about do it. He knew his Tamers wouldn't take long on the phone, so he could afford to wait a few minutes.

He was right, too – his Tamers weren't in the house very long at all. They came running out just as fast as they went in and literally jumped at him. He caught them without hesitation and took off, noticing Amarante watching from inside the house. He winked at her as he flew off, and she waved back.

"Where're we going?"

"Takato-san's."

"Yeah, Takato-san's. He said he wanted us to meet him there – he sounded worried."

"Mmm-hmm, worried."

The Ultimate blinked, a sick feeling building up in his stomach. Something was definitely up, and it seemed like Ai and Mako-chan were getting involved, which was the last thing he wanted. The rest of the short trip to the Matsuda bakery was silent. True to his earlier feeling, Beelzebumon reverted to his Child form as soon as he landed. The unfortunate result of this was that, since Ai and Makoto had been in his arms at the time, the twins wound up on top of him.

The two scrambled off as quickly as they could, and the threesome entered the bakery without further incident.A grave-faced Takato and a bread-munching Guilmon met them inside.

"That was fast," the gogglehead commented.

"Yeah, well," Ai looked at Impmon and grinned. "We had a ride."

" . . . Okay. The others should be here soon. Do you want anything to eat or drink? My mom already said it's all right."

Ai and Makoto shook their heads, but Impmon was already heading toward the back. He came out again a few minutes later with a very content look on his face. Almost as soon as he came back in, Jenrya, Shuichon, Terriermon and Lopmon arrived. Ai blushed as the half-Chinese boy walked past her, but said nothing. Shuichon was all smiles and bubbling over with excitement as she tried to tell anyone who would listen about her recent trip to the zoo with her father. Shortly thereafter, Ruki and Renamon both arrived, and Takato decided to go ahead and tell everyone what was going on.

"I know we're not all here, but this is something I need to tell you as soon as I can. Yamaki-san contacted me earlier today. He said something about some . . . strange things in the computer systems. He said they're something that have been popping up regularly for a year or so, but that they never thought these things were more than a bug because they weren't like normal Bio-Emerges."

Jenrya's eyes narrowed, "Did he say what he thought they were?"

"Kinda. He said that they've been studying them for a while now. Whatever they are, they form something kind of like a super-concentrated Digital Field, but whatever's inside of them doesn't register as a Wild One. He even had people watching the locations where they've been popping up, and they reported seeing something that looked like a human-Digimon crossbreed."

"A crossbreed? But that's not possible!"

"Gijinka Digimon," Spoke Renamon softly, drawing all eyes to her calm, even gaze. The kids and Guilmon all looked confused, while Terriermon looked skeptical and Lopmon nodded. Impmon refused to look at anyone, instead leaning back against the wall and pretending to be bored and uninterested.

Terriermon blinked, "You're kidding, right? Gijinka Digimon are just a legend! They don't exist."

Lopmon, however, nodded. "Yes they do," he said quietly. "I've seen one, once. When I was serving Zhuquiaomon-sama."

"Um," Takato spoke up, face red with embarrassment. "What are 'Gijinka Digimon'?"

Impmon yawned, stretched and stood up, still appearing bored, while inside he was scared to death. He'd have to be very, very careful if he didn't want found out.

"Ahem," he coughed, and when he was sure he had the room's attention, he spoke. "Gijinka Digimon are the things you just mentioned – they look like a Digimon and a human crossed together, but they're not really like either humans or Digimon. Plus, even if you saw one, you'd usually never know it; they can look like either humans or Digimon if they want to."

Terriermon grinned then, "Yeah! And they eat normal Digimon! Since you can't tell when they're there, they'll sneak up on you, and then, _wham_, you're lunch!"

Everyone in the room was shocked when Impmon suddenly shot a Night of Fire attack right past Terriermon's long ears. The little demon looked more upset than the Tamers had ever seen him, with six little flames dancing over his fingers, and sparks fairly flying from his eyes, which, surprisingly enough, held unshed tears. Ai and Makoto were instantly at his side, trying to calm him down. But Impmon wouldn't have it. He shook his Tamers off and fairly growled at Terriermon.

"**_That's not true!_**"

Then, without another word or waiting for a response, he ran out of the bakery and down the street. Ai and Makoto took off after him, surprisingly led by Renamon. Jenrya picked Terriermon up from where he had landed, startled by Impmon's attack, and examined his partner for injury. Terriermon was fine, if a bit shaken up by the suddenness of the attack. The group exchanged confused glances, and Terriermon blinked.

"What'd I say that upset him so much, Jen'?"

"I don't know."

"He really needs to learn to moumantai."

"I have to agree with you on that one, Terriermon. . ."

The Tamers wonderment about Impmon's behavior was drawn to a close as Hirokazu strolled in the door, followed by Guardromon and a stranger. Surprisingly, the girl appeared to be not at all shocked by the strange creatures collected in the bakery; instead, she smiled at them.

Hirokazu was chattering away at the girl, who seemed to only be half-listening as she took in the scene before her.

"And these are my friends. – sorry I'm late guys, by the way – They're Tamers too, and a few of them even play the card game. Of course, they know not to challenge me or they'll run home crying to their moms 'cause I don't go easy on my friends!"

"How interesting, Hirokazu-kun. And these are their . . . partners? Like Guardromon?"

"Wow, Shurikasa; you sure catch on quickly!"

Ruki hissed and grabbed Hirokazu's arm. "Excuse us for a minute." She stated coldly, and dragged the boy upstairs.

"HeyRuki! You're hurting me!"

"Good!" Ruki exclaimed as she pulled him into the bathroom. "Look, Hirokazu, I knew you were a moron but this takes the cake. Why in the world did you tell a complete stranger about the Digimon? Even you ought to know better than _that_!"

Hirokazu blushed, "Well, she didn't freak out when she saw Guardromon, and said she thought it would be cool to be a Tamer. So I thought I'd bring her here to meet you guys – I would've taken her to see Kenta but you know he's sick this week. . . Give her a chance, Ruki! She's really nice and I think she'd, I dunno, make a good ally or something."

Ruki sighed and put a hand to her forehead, "Alright. I'll give her a chance. But only for her sake because she's done nothing wrong." The redhead started back downstairs, before turning angry violet eyes in his direction. "But I'm warning you, Hirokazu, if you're wrong . . ." She left the rest of the threat unspoken as she went back to join the group. Hirokazu breathed a sigh of relief and followed her back downstairs, grateful that the Digimon Queen had given him a stay of execution.

Impmon ran as fast as his legs could take him, occasionally jumping from rooftop to rooftop, until he finally felt calm enough not to take the head off of the first person he saw. Then, much slower and more cautiously, he made his way back to the park by Takato's. It was close enough that he would be able to help if something happened, and far enough away that no one would bother him. Or at least that's what he hoped.

"Why did I lose my cool like that? Usually that kind of thing doesn't bother me that much. It wasn't like he meant it . . . right? He was just being annoying, like usual. Gah, why does everything have to be so _complicated_?" He shouted, shaking a fist at the sky.

"I could as you the same questions, Impmon."

It was Renamon, again.

"Why are you always following me? Leave me _alone _already!"

"Impmon-chan! Impmon-chan!"

Impmon was surprised that his Tamers had found him so fast, but he stopped wondering about it the  
instant he saw the tears in their eyes as they caught up to him. Both were breathing extremely hard,  
and appeared to be exhausted. They barely shot a glance at Renamon before piling on top of Impmon.

"Impmon-chan, are you okay?"

"Why'd you get so upset?"

"Did Terriermon's story scare you?"

Impmon jumped at that, "What? Scare me? You must be joking!"

He never heard the twins' reply.

_He was back in the Digital World again, in identical circumstances to the first time. Once again, he was immobile and mute as the strangely menacing figure came closer and closer to him. However, this time, the figure spoke._

"_**Well done, little one. I have searched a very long time for you. In the end, however, you have failed at remaining hidden. Don't feel ashamed – it's only to be expected."**_

_Suddenly, Impmon found his voice._

"_What do you want with me, you psycho? Get out of my head, cause that's where we are, aren't we! You've been the one causing my dreams and stuff, haven't you? Go away and let me be!"_

"_**I'm afraid I can't do that, and neither will I answer your questions when you're being so very rude. You get that from your father, you know."**_

_Impmon blinked, stunned by the figure's offhand comment. "My. . . father? Hey, wait a minute – that doesn't mean anything. Why do you keep invading my mind? Are you trying to drive me crazy or something? It's annoying!"_

"_**You really want to know, little one? Very well. You have attempted to earn acceptance through human 'Tamers', however you know very well that you'll never be truly accepted for what you are."**_

"_Yeah, yeah, tell me something I don't know and let's get this over with, okay? I'm getting bored here." Those were apparently the wrong words to say, as the figure erupted with anger._

"_**Be SILENT! It is past time for you to realize that the only way you will ever have true acceptance is to take it by force!" **__The figure took a deep breath and spoke again, much calmer this time. **" You can not go on living the lie that you have created for all eternity. Your people need you, child of Youkano."**_

"_Okay, I definitely don't like where this is going, so how 'bout I just tell you to forget it right now and let me wake up?"_

"_**You don't seem to realize that you have no choice in the matter. Child of Youkano, you WILL join your people or you and your 'Tamers' will die. You will not continue living the false life you seem so fixated upon!"**_

"_Yeah, and how're you going to stop me?"_

"_**It's simple enough. As a matter of fact, it's already done."**_

_Impmon paled beneath his fur. "I don't believe you! You can't have done anything t' me; I'd have noticed! Hey – are you listening to me? Heeeeeeeey!"_

He was jolted back to reality, and blinked his eyes open to see the two people he cared about more than anything in the two worlds staring at him in complete shock, confusion, and . . . fear? Renamon was also standing above him, and her eyes were narrowed in a mixture of concern and distrust. Not entirely sure what was going on, but getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he looked down at his hand.

Five fingers.

Instantly panicked, Imouku tried desperately to shift back to his Digimon form, but failed miserably with a fizzle of data. Staring up at the humans and Digimon, Imouku shuddered. This was the worst thing that could ever happen to him, without a doubt. It truly couldn't get any worse than this.

What was he supposed to do now?

**-TBC-  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Wow! Look! It's an update - no, you don't need to adjust your computer; I really have updated! It's a little shorter than usual, but fortunately not by much. I just . .. couldn't find a better ending place. I'm . . . .semi-pleased semi-displeased with this chapter, but that's better than I expected after ::cough:: far too long between updates. Anyway, some important plot points are covered in this chapter, and it's starting to get toward the point where actual ACTION begins. Maybe. We'll have to see - I'm not that good at writing action, I'm afraid. And I can genuinely say I know what I"m doing with my Japanese now, because I am taking an actual Japanese class - which is surprisingly easy. Maybe all of this anime is good for something. . . . ? ;) But yes, please review and I know it's not perfect, but really, perfect is rarely obtained and even more rarely without a beta. As for the next update. . . . it'll happen when it happens, but it will happen, I assure you. Just don't be surprised if it takes awhile.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the canon digimon characters, but I do own my Gijinka, both villians and otherwise. (Well, except our hero of course.) Unfortunately, I don't see myself owning them anytime in the near future, either. How sad. :(**

* * *

**The Last of the Gijinka**

**Chapter 4**

Imouku had never felt a stronger urge to run away. Unfortunately, to do so with Renamon staring him down was pretty much impossible – and he doubted he'd be able to get very far at the moment anyway, considering the headache that had just overtaken him once again. This time, however, it was strong enough to make him physically ill, and he didn't dare move considering how sick he felt.

"You are a Gijinka Digimon, then," Renamon stated, breaking the oppressive silence that had hung over the small group for the last few minutes. "I had thought as much."

Imouku said nothing and kept as still as possible, more because of his headache than a lack of things to say. The twins, too, kept silent, their large brown eyes riveted upon the figure of their partner . . . who didn't seem so much like a partner anymore. Slowly, Ai pulled the purple-and-white D-arc away from her neck, where it normally hung, and looked at it, checking to see if this really was the partner she'd known for three years.

It pointed at Imouku, no matter what direction she turned it.

" . . . Impmon?" She asked, and Imouku flinched at the absence of the '-chan.' He nodded, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

"Yeah . . ."

Suddenly, the twins ran up and threw their arms around him in a hug, brown eyes watering. Imouku remained frozen, unsure of the reasons behind this unexpected action. While Renamon looked on, the twins took turns reassuring their partner, who seemed to be so frightened of them.

"Don't be scared of us! We _love _you!"

"Yeah, we _love_ you, Impmon! Don't run away again, please? Stay with us!"

Imouku was somewhat relieved – at least his Tamers weren't afraid of him, despite the story they had been told only a short time before. However, that still didn't change the fact that he couldn't shift to his Digimon form; or that Renamon was still there, watching him. Finally, the tall Child relaxed from her tense stance, and appeared to be more annoyed than anything else.

"This certainly explains a few things. How long were you intending to keep this to yourself?"

Imouku, realizing that the threat was gone – at least for the moment – glared up at Renamon from his position on the ground. "What's it matter to you?"

"I never said it did." She looked as if she were about to continue with her original line of thought, but stopped when the Gijinka turned decidedly green and swallowed heavily while raising an arm to rub his head. All in all, he looked dangerously close to throwing up. ". . . Maybe you should go home for now. We can discuss this later."

If anything, the suggestion only made the Gijinka look more ill. "No way – I'm not going back like _this_!"

"But Okaa-san will help you!"

"Yeah, Okaa-san will help! She'll make you feel better!"

The twins tugged on Imouku's arms, and between them barely managed to pull him to his feet. They then started to drag him towards home. He resisted with a mumbled groan of "That's what I'm _afraid_ of . . ."

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

* * *

To her credit, the twins' mother took her third charge's change in appearance in stride, and indeed, seemed much more concerned about his health than his "new" human-like features. After debating for awhile as to whether or not human painkillers were safe for the redhead to use, she finally decided not to risk it. After all; who knew the effects such seemingly innocent drugs would have on a being that they weren't intended for?

So, about ten minutes after arriving home, Imouku had been tucked (or as he thought of it, imprisoned) into a hastily-made up futon, and ordered to go to sleep and to not get up until Amarante gave him permission - no matter how he felt. Despite his desire to escape simply to spite the slightly-overbearing woman's rules, Imouku stayed put. This was only because of the fact that if he had tried to get up at that point in time, Imouku would definitely have thrown up, and that was something he simply refused to let happen.

Against his will, the young Gijinka did fall asleep, and slept for a good two hours – thankfully without dreaming – and woke up with his nausea and headache mostly gone, but leaving him with no real desire to get up and walk around. However, he did sit up and saw both the twins and their mother sitting silently in a semicircle around him.

Kobayashi Amarante was staring at him as if she were seeing him for the first time, which, in a way, she was. The Gijinka was rapidly getting annoyed with the silence and the staring, so responded in the way he knew best: he glared at the twins' mom and blew a raspberry at her.

"Whaaaaat?"

Unfazed by Imouku's actions, Amarante reached out and touched one of his purple ears, which he proceed to twitch away from her with an even more intense glare. "You know I _don't_ like my ears grabbed! _Quit it_!"

"Well, if I had any doubts that you're my children's Digimon partner you've more than convinced me that you are," Amarente said with a half-smile. "Ai and Makoto told me they've never seen you like this, so I can only ask you – Why have you hidden this from all of us?" There was a look of hurt in the woman's eyes that only intensified when Imouku crossed his arms angrily and turned away from her.

"That's none of your business!"

The twins spoke up together, "Don't be mean, Impmon-chan!"

"Yeah, don't be mean!" Glancing at the two children out of the corner of one eye, Imouku saw that they were just as hurt by his statement as their mother was. This made him glower even more.

"You weren't supposed to ever know. _No-one_ was," he finally said with a huff, hoping that his Tamers and their parent would back off and leave him alone.

No such luck, of course.

"Why?" Imouku turned and locked eyes with Ai, who had asked the innocent question. The older twin looked very upset that her partner had kept something from her family – an expression that was mirrored by her brother. Faced with their expressions, Imouku let slip more than he had intended to.

". . . I was told not to." He dropped his eyes and found his crossed arms, finding the futon very interesting to look at. Of course, that didn't stop him from hearing the soft question Amarante asked.

"By who?"

Perhaps it was that he was still somewhat tired; maybe it was because his headache was returning once again, or just maybe . . . it was that he was finally ready and, in fact, desperately in need of trusting _someone_ with his secret, but whatever the reason, Imouku found himself saying,

"My Okaa-san."

* * *

When Renamon returned to the Tamers' meeting without Impmon or the twins, she informed the group that the three had simply gone home, and nobody thought too much of it. Ruki, however, picked up on the tiny signs that pointed to Renamon keeping information to herself, and decided to ask her partner about what happened later. At the moment, there wasn't much chance that she'd get to talk to her, as the strangely-dressed girl Hirokazu had brought into the store was still around. Something about that girl was annoying the redheaded Tamer.

"Shuri", as the girl had insisted on being called, seemed like an idiot – one of those beauty-without-brains types Ruki's mother tended to be around a lot. She was constantly asking Hirokazu questions and enthusiastically embracing his answers, which only encouraged the boy to boast more and to tell her more and more fantastic stories – which were thankfully shot down, for the most part, by Jenrya.

Frankly Ruki thought Jenrya was just as suspicious of this girl as she was, what with the way he was watching her, a thoughtful frown on his face. Takato, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice anything amiss and was gladly trying to help teach the girl how to play the Digimon card game – which, by all appearances, she was hopeless at.

"Iie, Shuri-san, not that card – that's not a very good one to play here," the goggle-wearing preteen said, trying to gently correct the girl sitting across from him.

The blue-haired girl blinked innocently, staring at the card she had attempted to lay down. "But. . . .. it's so pretty – why can't I play it?"

"Shuri-san, you don't play a card because it's pretty, you play it because of what it does. Do you understand?"

"Hai," she said, and then promptly selected the same card again, proving that she really didn't understand at all. Ruki sighed to herself; perhaps she was being a bit paranoid – surely someone that idiotic couldn't be a threat. She probably didn't even realize that the Digimon around her were real, and if she did she'd doubtless forget about them five minutes after leaving.

No wonder she hung off of Hirokazu's words – compared to her, he was a genius!

"For the last time – you really don't want to play that card, Shuri-san; you'll never win a game if you don't try to understand the rules!"

Ruki shifted her attention to Takato, who was growing frustrated with Shurikasa's repeated attempts at playing the same card. Her attention went to the newcomer when she sniffed, and was not particularly surprised to see the imbecile barely holding back tears.

"Hey, Takato! Don't get mad at her – she can't help it if she doesn't understand!" Hirokazu said, glaring at his friend and shooting concerned glances at said bubblehead. "I mean, come on – she's never even _heard_ of the game before today!"

Takato blinked – he hadn't really been that harsh on the girl; it was just annoying that she appeared to be ignoring everything he tried to teach her. Still, he hadn't meant to make her cry.

"Sumimasen, Shuri-san; I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please don't cry."

The older girl choked in a hitching sob, before managing to blink her tears away and tentatively smiling at Takato.

"O-Okay. I think – I think I should head home now, though. It was nice meeting you, everyone." With that Shurikasa rose to her feet and left, followed shortly thereafter by Hirokazu, who cried,

"Wait, Shuri-san – I'll walk you home! Shuri-san!"

The three remaining older Tamers looked at one another and sighed in unison at their fellow's antics – there was no stopping Hirokazu once he was focused on something. Shuichon continued playing with Lopmon, oblivious to the goings-on around her.

"Well," Takato said, looking around. "I guess this meeting's over."

"It didn't seem to be much of a meeting in the _first_ place," Ruki scoffed, shooting an annoyed look at the door. "We never even really got to the point of what we were supposed to be _doing."_

Jenrya, said nothing, his eyes going back and forth from the door to the card that Shurikasa had repeatedly played – an Elecmon card-, a puzzled look creasing his features. However he did turn and pay attention to Takato when the other boy started talking about what they had met for in the first place.

"When Yamaki called me he told me that those weird Digimon-crosses – what were they called, again?"

"Gijinka Digimon," Renamon said calmly.

"Right," Takato continued, "Gijinka Digimon, have been BioEmerging a lot – he said that the amount of BioEmerges has doubled just within the last three months or so. He wants us to watch out for them because he says it's been the same few . . . Gijinka every time - they're not just coming here. They're going _back_."

Jenrya and Ruki both grew thoughtful, and even Shuichon looked like she was thinking intensely about something or other. Finally, Jenrya looked up with a frown. "So if they're coming here and going back, it means they can travel between the Digital World and the Real World without much trouble. But . . . why are they coming here in the first place?"

None of the Tamers or Digimon had an answer for that.

"I don't believe it!" Came the frustrated exclamation as Hirokazu trudged back inside, surprising the other Tamers both with his presence and his overall dejected appearance. "She's not there! I looked everywhere around for her and it's like she just disappeared!"

* * *

Two nights after his initial revelation, Imouku was sitting on top of the roof of his Tamers' house, thinking. He would have gone farther away than just the roof, but once the twins' mother realized that he was roughly the same age as the majority of the Tamers, she refused to let him go any farther than the roof on his nightly wanderings.

"_What if you ran into trouble? You can't become a Digimon right now and you could get hurt!"_

A demonstration of the fact that he could (and would all too willingly) defend himself with a Night of Fire attack merely set the T.V. on fire. This resulted in Imouku being restricted to the roof of the building even once he regained his Digimon form. Even though Imouku _could_ leave anyway, the video camera Amarante had set up was a huge deterrent – if she taped him leaving (or if he destroyed the camera, which was a tempting idea), he would face something far worse than the 'high-chair incident' as he privately thought of it. Thinking about what that thing did to his tail was more than enough to keep him in line.

Imouku let out a sigh and rested his chin in his hand, which he had propped up on his knee. When he had accidentally slipped up about his Okaa-san, the twins had erupted with questions.

"_You have a 'Kaa-san? Wow! Is she pretty?"_

"_Is she nice?"_

"_Does she look like you?"_

"_Can we meet her?"_

He hadn't replied to any of the questions, and in fact looked rather mortified at having let that information slip. He was thankful to the twins' mother, who quickly put an end to the questions and made sure there were no more ever since. That didn't stop the woman herself from wondering, and Imouku was just waiting for her to start questioning him. He knew that she wouldn't let him get away without answering at least _some_ of her questions.

In order to avoid this, he had gone up on the roof of the old-fashioned house, trying to figure out a way to answer the inevitable questions without giving away anything he didn't want anyone knowing about – he'd let slip about his name yesterday, which was more annoying than upsetting, but reminded him to watch what he said.

Instead of thinking up answers, however, he found his mind wandering to the moment he had gotten "stuck". He had a feeling that somehow, all the strange happenings in his life lately were connected – his dreams, the horrible headaches, and the shadow-person who had locked him. Still, he couldn't help but think he was missing something, and it was annoying him that he couldn't wrap his mind around it completely.

Therefore, it was no surprise that he was in a very bad mood when Renamon appeared.

"What do _you_ want? Go away!"

The golden Child looked down at the angry Gijinka without responding to his antagonism.

"Calm down – I'm not going to attack you."

Imouku rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah right; like I haven't heard _that_ before." Nevertheless, he did relax a bit – despite his natural wariness of most Digimon, he felt fairly safe around Renamon; in some ways she acted a lot like his mother had. He still glared at her, but her calm manner diffused the majority of his anger.

For her part, Renamon was mildly surprised that the Gijinka seemed genuinely worried about being attacked, despite the fact that she was a friend.

"Do you really think that I believe those stories?"

Imouku didn't respond, but he clearly thought she did – he had no reason to believe that she wouldn't think that those stories were true. A part of him, however, wondered. She _knew_ what he was, and yet hadn't attacked him on sight – unlike every other Digimon who had discovered his secret. He admitted to himself that he was being paranoid, but he had every right to be!

This thought reinforced his anger.

"You _still _haven't told me what you _want_, Renamon. Or do you just want to stare at me?"

Renamon sighed softly, "I thought that you might be interested in what happened after you went home two days ago."

Imouku blinked, confused by her question. "Why? They throw a party or something?"

Although he wasn't really in the mood to listen (when was he ever, really?), something in the tall Child's tone made him curious, so he let Renamon tell him all that had occurred after he had stormed out of the Tamers' meeting two days before. When she reached the point about Hirokazu's guest, Imouku's ears perked up and his eyes narrowed.

"Wait – what did this girl look like?"

In truth, Renamon had somewhat expected this reaction and was counting on a response of this sort. She immediately described Shurikasa, but Imouku interrupted her by jumping to his feet, snarling angrily and tossing a Night of Fire into the sky.

"Impmon??" Renamon asked, startled and concerned by the abrupt display of temper. Imouku growled and threw another attack at nothing in particular.

"It must have been _her_! She must have something to do with why I'm stuck! It – she – somehow – _graaaaah_!" With that inarticulate snarl of rage, he sank to his knees and grabbed his head in his hands. ". . . .Makes my head hurt trying to think about it. . ."

It was nearly five minutes before he moved, and only then did he re-acknowledge Renamon's presence. He turned and looked at her, his eyes filled with the confusion he felt. "I met her before – I think – I think she's got something to do with . . . .whatever's going on. Don't. . . don't trust her. Something's not right about her." He stood up and stretched. "I'm going back inside." He grumbled to himself and massaged his forehead. "Stupid headache. . . . ."

As he went to jump off the roof and head back into the house, Renamon stopped him.

"Do you know why you keep having these headaches, Impmon? They're simply not normal."

He shook his head – and winced. "Nah; but I'll find out." With that, he jumped off the roof, but not before telling the tall Digimon, "And Impmon's not my name – my name's Imouku."

* * *

Shurikasa knelt before her leader and kept her eyes on the ground as she gave her report. At her lord's praise of her efforts, she blushed but did not look up. She was a scout and unused to having private audiences with her lord, and was still afraid of him. Of course, even his closest advisors kept a healthy fear of him – he was just that kind of a leader.

It was also best to tell him of any problems up front, as it was much worse if he found out that one of his military had withheld information. Shurikasa winced as she was reminded of a friend who had done just that, took a deep breath and plunged on with her report.

"I'm afraid, milord, that I was only able to gain the complete trust of one member of the group, possibly two. The greater percentage are still wary, and I hesitate to declare that I will be able to earn their trust." Wincing, she prepared herself for a painful reprimand. When one didn't come, she looked up – accidentally making eye contact with her leader.

Cool green eyes stared at her thoughtfully while one black-gloved hand rested under his chin. Her leader did not appear angry at all – instead, he seemed rather thoughtful. One finger tapped softly on his leg. Finally, after a cruelly long silence, he answered.

"I think, scout, that one will be quite enough for my purpose. Continue building his trust in you, and carry out your orders only once he is sufficiently devoted." Shurikasa mentally groaned, disgusted by the thought of having to spend _more_ time around the infatuated Hirokazu. If anyone other than her leader had ordered her to do this . .. . She was interrupted from her musings by her lord asking her a question. "How is the Child of Youkano? Does he realize what he is dealing with?"

Shurikasa shook her head. "No, milord, but he does know that something is happening. He does not know what he should as of yet."

She trembled as a sadistic smile spread across her lord's face.

"Then I shall help him learn . . . more quickly. Scout, you are dismissed."

Shurikasa didn't need to be told twice – she left as fast as she respectfully could. Once she had left, her leader leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"_**Come, little one. It is time to dream again. . . ."**_

"_Mama! Mama!" He reached over and tugged at the collar of his mother's dress. "Mamaaaaaaaa!" She sighed, and he felt her shift him around to a position more comfortable for her to carry him in._

"_What is it, 'Mouku?" She turned her head just enough to look at him, golden eyes weary and afraid. Imouku looked up at her, his sleepy green eyes confused._

"_Why we runnin' 'way, Mama? Is the Bad Digimons chasin' us 'gain?" He blinked as his mother shook her head "no", and immediately asked another question. "Why we runnin' then?"_

"_Because," his mother said softly, juggling him around again, "A Bad Gijinka is chasing us now." Imouku's little eyes widened, utterly shocked at this possibility. He shook his head furiously, the small purple ears nestled in bright red hair wobbling back and forth with his motion._

"_But Gijinkas' aren't bad, Mama! We're Gijinkas! Digimons are th' Bad ones!"_

_His mother shushed him and sighed again. "No, Imouku, not all Gijinkas are good, and not all Digimon are bad."_

_Imouku shook his head and pouted. "But th' Digimons always chase us! That makes them bad!" Again, his mother sighed – she did that a lot, and it made Imouku sad to hear it. She stumbled over a rock then, and would have fallen had it not been for Imouku's father reaching over to catch her. _

_She smiled at him, and then spoke again to her son. "They chase us because they're scared, Imouku, not because they're bad."_

"_Nuh-uh! We aren't scary! They're just mean!"_

"_Imouku . .. ." _

_She was going to say something else, Imouku could tell, and he wasn't going to like it. However, she was stopped by Imouku's father taking him out of his mother's arms and holding him. His father laughed._

"_Relax, Anikana – he's not going to understand. He's still too young. You can explain it to him when he's older."_

_Imouku watched with sleepy eyes as his Mama, angry now, glared at his Papa and poked a finger under his nose. "I may not be _able_ to explain it to him when he's older, Youkano! If he doesn't get it now then he'll turn into exactly what we don't want – a Digimon-hating monster! He might even fall in with the likes of Kuuhei! Do you really want that for our son?"_

_Imouku's Papa raised a hand and pushed his Mama's finger out of his face. "No, of course I don't want that, Ani'. But you can't expect a three-year-old to understand complex things like this. You'll make sure he understands when he's old enough, Ani – I'll make sure of it."_

"_Mama?" Imouku asked from where he had lain his head down on his father's shoulder. "Papa? Who's Kuuhei?"_

_It was his father who answered, and the answer left little Imouku very dissatisfied._

"_Someone you will never meet, Imouku – and you don't need to worry about anything else."_

Imouku awoke from the dream in a thoughtful mood, the name his parents had mentioned standing out in his mind. _Kuuhei._ Who was that? And why couldn't he shake the feeling that whoever this Kuuhei person was, he was involved in Imouku's current problems?

**-TBC-**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **What do you know? It's chapter five:) The action starts picking up in this chapter, folks - we're moving into the meat of the plot, so to speak. Aren't you excited? Yes, yes you are. You know you are. I promised you all this story wouldn't die and it won't; I will see it through to the end, now matter how much time it takes. Doesn't that make you happy? Yes, well. .. . on to the chapter, but before you go. . .

**Dedicated to: Impkat **for helping me get past my sticky spot and back to work, betaeing, as well as for the lovely doujinshi of this story that she's working on - the first bit is up over on her deviantart account; I highly recommend checking it out!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Digimon, the Digital world, or any of the Tamers. I do, however, claim this particular concept of Gijinka, as well as the various (and somewhat annoying in some cases) OCs that pop up. If it's not on that list, it's not mine.

**

* * *

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**The Last of the Gijinka**

**Chapter Five**

"Uh-uh. No _way_. I'm not going!" Imouku folded his arms and looked away from his Tamers, refusing to acknowledge their pleading glances. The twins had just come home from school – early, as this was only a half-day - and had immediately received a phone call from Takato. He had told them that there was going to be another meeting, this time at the park, and everyone was supposed to be there. Even Ryo was taking the time to attend this one, and there was a good reason: the pace of Gijinka moving around the city had skyrocketed over the past two weeks, although none of the Tamers had managed to see one in person as of yet. They were just too stealthy to keep track of.

Takato had asked Ai and Makoto to come, and to make sure and bring Impmon with them; apparently Jenrya had some questions about why he had gotten so angry with Terriermon at the last meeting. The twins had readily agreed, not thinking of their partner's current predicament and whether or not he should really bother going. He had refused the moment they told him about it, and they were attempting to convince him to go – nothing worked. They had even offered to use their allowance money and buy him as much snack food as he could eat – a very generous offer, considering the Gijinka's appetite. Even that didn't work, though. He was tempted, for a minute, by the thought of a mountain of snacks, but rapidly shook it off and refused again. It had now been over an hour since Takato had called, and the twins had been reduced to begging their partner to go with them.

"Im-chan, _please_? We want you to come with us!"

"Yeah, we want you to come!"

Imouku shook his head and said, "No – you can't make me!" The redhead stomped off to the couch where he sat down and glared stubbornly at his Tamers. Their mother watched him from her own spot on the couch, where she was calmly working on a family scrapbook. The only sounds in the room for a few minutes were the sounds of her scissors cutting the pictures into decorative shapes, and the harsh breaths of the near-to-tears twins.

Finally, after the stare-down between twins and Gijinka refused to end, Amarante laid her scissors down with a sigh.

"I think you should go." Imouku turned his glare on her as she continued, "You haven't left the house for almost a week; you haven't even tried to sneak out once. This isn't normal for you and I think you need to go out and get some fresh air. If you won't stay for Ai and Makoto's meeting, then at least walk with them to the park."

When the redhead opened his mouth to protest, she shot him a warning look. "I mean it. If you don't go outside and go with them, I'll find something even worse than the high chair – I do _not_ want to have to buy another television if you start getting too stir-crazy."

Imouku wisely shut his mouth and got off the couch, walking over to the twins who were now looking triumphant and pleased. With a pout on his face he followed his Tamers out the door and into the yard, where he stopped for a moment to shift to his human form. When he looked at his Tamers again, Ai and Makoto were gaping at him with open mouths."

"What?" Imouku asked, annoyed. As one, the twins' mouths closed and identical grins spread across their faces.

"Coooooool!"

The redhead blinked, "What? What is it?"

The twins just grinned, and each grabbed one of his hands as they proceeded to drag him away.

"Come on, Im-chan – we'll get something to eat on the way to the park!" Imouku, still confused at what they thought was so fascinating about him, just let the two drag him on without saying a word, although he did start grinning at the mention of food. After all, who was he to turn down free food?

A short time later, the three of them arrived at the park, Imouku finishing off his sixth noodle cup as they walked. They could see the rest of the Tamers a fair distance away; and true to Takato's word, they were all there, even Ryo. Imouku stopped in his tracks, and the twins turned to him with questioning eyes. He shrugged.

"Sorry – this is as far as I'm going. You two can fill me in later." He turned and started walking off, but Ai ran up behind him and grabbed his hand.

"Im-chan, please, don't' run away. We won't let them hurt you!" Imouku laughed halfheartedly.

"Hurt me? What are you talking about? They couldn't hurt me if they tried!" Ai frowned and looked back towards where Makoto was standing, watching them with worry written all over his face – an expression briefly mirrored by Ai before an angry frown replaced it. The little girl stomped her foot and frowned at her significantly taller partner. There was an angry gleam in her eyes that was frighteningly reminiscent of her mother as she pointed an accusing finger at the Gijinka before her.

"Well if they're not going to hurt you, then why are you so scared of going over there?"

Imouku glared at her and huffed defensively, "Scared? I'm not scared of _anything_!"

Ai narrowed her eyes and grinned – which, if Imouku had been paying attention, he would have realized was identical to his own conniving grin – and replied, "Well, if you're not scared, then _prove it_."

The Gijinka glanced at Ai, over at the gathered Tamers, at Makoto (who was stifling laughter at his twin sister's sneakiness), and back at Ai. She merely continued smiling at him, if a bit more gently than a few minutes ago. Imouku was not reassured – regardless of his Tamers' attempts to sway him into going to the actual meeting with them, his survival instincts would not let him risk it. Still, he couldn't turn down a dare like that; it just wouldn't be _right._

Weighing his options, Imouku gulped.

"Look, alright, I'll go – but they're not going to see me. Got it?" And before either of the twins could protest, he was up a tree and out of sight.

* * *

Imouku eyed the goings on from his secure (and mostly hidden) spot on a convenient tree branch; he usually used this tree when he didn't want anyone to see him; it was less comfortable than some of his other spots, but gave him the utmost of concealment. In short, it was a good spot for playing pranks on unsuspecting park visitors, as well as watching the Tamers. It was pretty clear that this meeting was an important one – the Tamers rarely all met up unless it was for a celebration or something was going on. Even Juri was here, Culumon doing some sort of dance on top of her head. Imouku quickly looked away from her before his thoughts took too morbid of a turn. His gaze drifted across the group for a few moments before settling on Renamon.

The Gijinka was fairly certain Renamon knew he was here, but she gave no sign of her knowledge. He kept an eye on her though – she knew his secret, and she might feel it important to tell the Tamers on him at any minute. If she tried, he _would _set her tail on fire, no questions asked. He cast a cursory glance over the crowd once again, and drew back behind the tree's trunk with a hiss. Jenrya had started looking at the trees – again. Terriermon's Tamer was determined to speak to him, and had been a little upset when Ai and Makoto had shown up without their partner.

"Are you sure he's not coming?" Jenrya asked, and the twins exchanged glances and shrugged in unison.

"I don't think so," Ai said, tugging on one of her ribbon-bedecked pigtails nervously. "He's been sick."

"Yeah, sick. We're worried about him."

Across from them, Takato blinked in surprise, "Wait, how does a Digimon get sick?"

Terriermon giggled from his perch on Jenrya's shoulder. "He probably ate too much and threw up!"

Imouku's eyes narrowed from his perch and he had to restrain himself from throwing a few well-aimed Night of Fire attacks at the little twerp. He really couldn't stand Terriermon – he didn't appreciate the Digimon's sense of humor, at least not when it was at his expense. His hand curled into a fist, he glared unseen daggers at Terriermon and vowed that he _would_ teach him a lesson one of these days. Just . . . not right now. Not when he was stuck like this. He didn't want to even _think_ about what would happen if he were to attack right now, in this form.

He blinked as Renamon turned and faced his position, her eyes narrowed into a warning glare. He could tell her intent without a word being said_ "Stay where you are." _Really, he never could get away from her when she wanted to find him. He would have been intimidated by her ability to sense him – and seemingly know exactly what he was thinking -, if it hadn't reminded him of . . . his mother. He shook his head rapidly, attempting to clear that thought away from his mind. Why was he thinking of _her_ at a time like this? He couldn't afford to be distracted, because the conversation below him was finally getting to the point.

"One of those . . . "Gijinka" that have been showing up hurt someone yesterday. She works at Hypnos and was investigating a sighting, and got too close to it, apparently. Yamaki-san called and told me."

"What!"

"How badly?"

"Is the person okay?"

After a moment or two, the comments died down – fortunately not before Imouku snapped a smaller tree branch that he had been holding in his hand. If they had heard that, then they would have known he was up there. He knew he looked silly, with his mouth gaping open like a fish, but he was too shocked to care. A human had been hurt? Was it intentional? Why would a Gijinka have done something like that?

"Well . . . she's alive, at least. But she's in the hospital and probably won't be getting out for a while," Takato said, his eyes dark with fury. "What I don't understand is how they keep sneaking past us – we've been watching but we've never seen them; even though Hypnos says they've been BioEmerging more than ever! How can we _miss_ them?"

Surprisingly, it was Lopmon who spoke up, ""You can't see a Gijinka if it doesn't want to be seen." That's what all of the stories say. I think it's true, too – I only saw one once, and it was only because she wanted me to see her; she wanted to talk to Zhuquiaomon-sama." His eyes were sad as he continued, "She was so sad; and so afraid . . ."

Ryo glanced at Lopmon with one eye, and then pushed away from the tree he was leaning against, standing up. "I'm sure that's an interesting story you have to tell, Lopmon, but I think we'd better get to the point. Does anyone know what this Gijinka attacker looked like? Or why it attacked this person at all?"

Takato shook his head, "That's the problem – no one knows anything; the lady who was attacked is the only person who got a clear view of it, and she hasn't woken up yet to tell anyone."

"It doesn't matter what it looked like or why it did what it did; what we have to worry about is keeping it from happening again," Ruki broke in impatiently. "So how are we going to stop them?"

"It's obvious. We can't stop them in the Real World; we don't even know how they're getting here. But we _do_ know one thing: They keep going back to the Digital World." Jenrya took in the stares of the unusually subdued gather as he continued, "We're going to have to go back."

* * *

It was one thing to say they were going back to the Digital world, but it was quite another to actually _go. _The Tamers debated back and forth for a while as to how to get back – the portal that had allowed the Tamers and their partners to reunite was long since closed, and no new ones had been found in the last few months. Finally, the group simply settled on keeping a closer watch for the Gijinka, and to keep in better contact with Yamaki and Hypnos. The organization was their best bet in finding a Gijinka as it was BioEmerging – and perhaps as it was going back to the Digital World. Really, there was nothing else they could do. After deciding this, the group went their separate ways, with Ai and Makoto staying to wait for Imouku to come out of hiding.

Nearly ten minutes after the rest of the Tamers had left, Imouku peeked cautiously out of the foliage and let himself drop down to the ground beside the twins. His stomach growled before any of the three could say anything. Ai and Makoto giggled in tandem.

"Hungry already, Im-chan?"

He blushed and looked away from them. "Well you try hanging out in a tree for three hours and see how hungry it makes you!" The twins' giggling only increased. They each grabbed one of Imouku's hands and the three started to walk to the entrance of the park. The sun was starting to set; if they didn't get home soon Amarante would have their heads for making her worry. The three had just reached the exit when a speeding Takato nearly ran them over as he ran back into the park, towards the meeting place. A split second after noticed what he had just done, Takato stopped and bowed hurriedly in apology.

"Oh, hey, Ai, Makoto, I forgot my homework in the park so I have to get it sorry for almost running into you and – hey, who's your friend?" The older Tamer took in the appearance of the suddenly bashful Imouku, who was trying his hardest to act like he wasn't, in fact, trying to hide behind the twins. Crimson eyes blinked, then narrowed as the Gogglehead asked, "Hey? Have I seen you before? You look familiar . . ."

Imouku started to back away, muttering, "Nah, I don't think so."

Takato shook his head and replied, "No, I know I've seen you somewhere before – oh, wait, _now_ I remember!"

The redhead suddenly found the sky very fascinating. _'Oh, look. There's a cloud shaped like a bowl of soba noodles . . ._' The twins exchanged a concerned glance, and moved a bit further in front of Imouku, arms spread, effectively blocking Takato from getting too close to their partner. If the Gogglehead noticed their odd behavior, he gave no sign of it. Instead, he smiled a wide smile and said, "You're the kid that ran into me the other day! The Impmon fan!"

Imouku almost fell over.

"Eh, you could say that . . ." The Gijinka said, feeling a strange mix of relief and surprise that Takato could completely misunderstand what he was seeing. Really, it was almost unbelievable! Thinking the redhead's reaction was just shyness, Takato continued on,

"Hey, don't be modest. If you like Impmon enough to dress like one, you shouldn't be embarrassed when someone remembers you for it! Hey, I bet that's your favorite card to play, too! Well, it was nice meeting you but I really have to go. I hope my homework hasn't blown away already – sensei's going to have my head if I miss _another_ assignment . . ."

Continuing to mutter to himself, the leader of the Tamers continued into the park, leaving Ai, Makoto, and a very dumbfounded Imouku behind. The three shared a long, incredulous look, then blinked and continued on their way. The twins were certainly surprised that Takato hadn't figured out who Imouku was, but neither so much as Imouku himself. The Gijinka walked between his Tamers in somewhat of a daze, unable to get past the fact that Takato had seen him _twice_ and not realized something was odd, the second time after he had learned about Gijinka, and while he was walking with the twins, no less. It should have been obvious who and what he was, and yet he had still managed to keep his secret.

Either someone was looking out for him, or Takato was an idiot.

* * *

Shurikasa grimaced as the night wind shifted, blowing her own scent back at her, along with the scent of human blood that accompanied it. She had been unable to rid herself of the metallic stench, despite numerous attempts at removing it. Curse that nosy human and her insufferable curiosity! If the silly thing had simply ceased her incessant pestering, she might have remained unharmed. As it was, Shurikasa had been forced to make a move that the Gijinka were not entirely prepared for yet – the shedding of human blood. It was an unfortunate move, as the humans would doubtlessly be on higher alert, and precautions would have to be taken in order to prevent capture. The Gijinka could not, _would not_ be halted in their quest. Her leader would be displeased that his plans for the human world, or "Real World" as those children called it, would have to be delayed. Her punishment for inducing this state of affairs would be severe, but the Elecmon Gijinka was confident that it would be nothing too harmful – her current position was too precarious to risk any . . . long-term damage.

She sneered as she pushed her hair out of her face – the wind blew it all around and made it hard for her to keep an eye on her surroundings. The human had been weak, absurdly so. It hadn't even taken five minutes to reduce that woman to a state where she would cease to be a risk. Humans as a whole were inept and unskilled; their senses were dulled to the point where it was mere child's play to convince them to ignore her. A soft sound to her left made her twitch an ear in that direction, but she heard nothing else, and she didn't bother looking. Her strength was her hearing, not her sight. If she heard nothing, then there was nothing to hear. Steeling herself, she leapt from her position to a slightly taller rooftop, exchanging concealment for a clearer view of her surroundings.

Hopefully she would be finished with this assignment soon; that irritating boy was getting on her last nerve. Every time he saw her – and there had been several occurrences where she was forced to meet with him – he would flirt shamelessly and ineptly, and try to astound her with stories that were at the least greatly exaggerated, and more likely entirely false. His Digimon partner was even worse; clanking about with every move he made. Shurikasa couldn't stand machine Digimon; not that she liked any other Digimon, but machine Digimon were the worst – they were so _noisy_. She would be very, very glad when she was finally ordered to dispose of the boy; that was an annoyance she would take great pleasure in being rid of.

"So this is what the Gijinka have become – little more than the thieves and murderers the stories claimed. Do you so desire to see lies become reality?" Shurikasa jumped and whirled to look behind her, where the voice had come from. Seeing nothing, she turned back to the direction she was originally facing, only to find Renamon standing before her, contempt emanating from her clear blue eyes. Unnerved by how simple it had been for the Digimon to take her by complete surprise, Shurikasa took a step backward and glared at the offender, all of her tails fluffed in agitation.

"What gives you the right to judge us, _Digimon,_" she hissed, baring her teeth in a warning. Renamon didn't react, although her glare turned a little more intense, recognizing the Elecmon Gijinka's reaction for what it was – fear.

"The last time that I checked, Gijinka were Digimon as well."

Shurikasa growled and laid her ears flat against her skull, hissing out, "We are _not_ Digimon! Gijinka are _superior_!" The Digimon before her still didn't react; Renamon's serenity was almost eerie in comparison to the mixed aggression and fear Shurikasa knew she was expressing. The Elecmon Gijinka's tails started swishing back and forth in her anxiety, and every muscle in her slight frame was tensed; she was ready for any attack that might come her way – even to the point of running away, if it was necessary.

Renamon remained unperturbed, only the slightest hint of anger in her voice as she replied, "And you seek to prove your superiority by attempting to kill a human? Don't try to deny it – you know that I can smell her blood on you." When Shurikasa didn't reply, Renamon continued, "I don't understand what your plans are entirely, but realize this – should you continue harming innocents in your quest, it is not merely the humans whom you will anger. Your actions could bring destruction down upon the heads of your people."

"That's not true! Gijinka will prove our superiority, and no Digimon or human will be able to destroy us – never again!" Shurikasa spat out, then stared in shock as something akin to pity flashed in Renamon's blue eyes, before the fox Digimon's gaze hardened into inscrutability once again.

"Is that truly what you believe? Foolish child; those beliefs will bring you only death." Although Renamon refused to make a move, Shurikasa was so strung out on her own anxiety and pent up tension, as well as anger at the insult the Digimon had flung at her (foolish child, indeed!), that she finally snapped and launched herself at the one who dared insult her and her beliefs.

Her initial attack hit, but didn't seem to do much in the way of damage, beyond making the fox Digimon look like she'd had an unfortunate encounter with an electric socket. After that, the fight was squarely out of the Gijinka's hands – every attempt she made to get inside the tall Child's guard met with failure. Conventional attacks took too long in battle – that was the fatal flaw in most Digimon's battle form, and Shurikasa was quite confident in her abilities at hand to hand; as a Gijinka her agility and flexibility were nearly unmatched. Yet she couldn't break through Renamon's guard; every attack she made was somehow deflected. It shouldn't be possible, but the Digimon was defeating her – she, who had been trained in combat by the Combat Master himself!

In fact, as she fell back panting from exertion and dabbing at the sweat dripping down her forehead, she was disturbed to see that the Digimon in front of her looked as if she hadn't been doing a thing. In fact, there was a playful look in Renamon's eyes; the golden Child was enjoying herself!

"Have you learned your lesson at last?" Shurikasa glared at her opponent as she fought to get her breath back.

"You . . . you shouldn't . . .how'd you get so . . . so _good_?" It wasn't fair that a Digimon should be a better fighter than Gijinka- Gijinka were the superior species, her Lord couldn't be wrong about something so important!

Renamon's eyes danced as she replied, "You haven't had nearly enough training for someone in your position. If that is the best you can do then you really are no threat." At Shurikasa's outraged glare, Renamon smirked and continued, "That's the truth and you know it well. I trust that you'll leave humans alone for the rest of your stay in the Real World?" Shurikasa hissed at the underlying threat, but knew that she wouldn't stand a chance in another fight right now, so she nodded.

The fox Digimon smiled then, and bounded away over the rooftops, calling back over her shoulder as she went, "Do give my regards to Combat Master Garundo, won't you?"

Shurikasa's eyes widened and she stared after the retreating figure in complete shock.

* * *

Imouku yawned and stretched his arms out above his head, letting his legs swing back and forth over the edge of the rooftop. He had ventured out into the further reaches of Tokyo for the first time in a few weeks, having finally gotten tired of Kobayashi Amarante's watchful brown eyes. His Tamers' mother was nice, really, but ever since he'd been locked away from his Digimon form, she had started smothering him with the same kind of attention she gave her own children – which was exactly what the redheaded Gijinka didn't want. He'd done well enough on his own the last few years, why should anyone bother looking after him now? It was enough to make him feel choked.

. . . Except for that tiny part of him that insisted that the attention was a good thing. That was the main reason he was out here tonight – to take that tiny part of him and smash it until it went away. He didn't need _anyone_, didn't _want_ anyone; he had his Tamers and that was more than enough. He didn't want his Tamers' mother, sure she was a nice enough lady, but she wasn't . . .

'_She's not my mother. . .' _

That was really what it came down to. His mother had been relegated to a few dim memories for most of the past years of his life – he barely remembered what she looked like, let alone anything else. Then he had started having the dreams, and now he could remember her _too_ well - it was like he had just lost her all over again. As much as he tried to push his awakened memories of her back down into the recesses of his mind, he couldn't do it – and really, he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to. The Gijinka sighed and dropped his head into his hands.

'_Would you just __**stay out **__of my __**head **__already?_**'**

"Are you all right?" The concerned query alerted Imouku to Renamon's presence, and he lifted his head and glared at her. She had a good reason to be concerned – Imouku looked a mess and he knew it. His hair was more wild than usual, and his eyes were suspiciously red; it had rained a bit a short time ago, not for too long nor too hard, but enough to make him damp and annoyed. He hated the feeling of rain on his ears and tail – it just wasn't comfortable. Nevertheless, regardless of how he looked, his business was his own and the fox had no right to pry. So he told her as much.

"I'm _fine -_ now leave me alone -"

"You don't really expect me to believe that, do you?" Imouku turned away and huffed angrily, lack the words – and really, the desire to fight with her. As much as he was annoyed at having his thoughts disrupted, he just didn't have the energy to fight with the tall Digimon. It wasn't worth it; he had too much to worry about right now. Not only was his mind still being invaded by unwanted dreams, but also it was just . . . so _wrong_ to be unable to shift to his Digimon form; he didn't feel right without being able to shift to any form at a moment's thought. It was unnatural, and the Gijinka could only hope that he would be able to reverse the effect some time soon; much longer with only two forms to choose from and he was going to snap, he just knew it.

"I don't care whether you believe it or not – you do what you want and just let me be!"

There was a surprisingly hurt tone to Renamon's voice as she replied, "Is that really what you want?"

"_Yes!" _Imouku shouted, tugging on his own ears in frustration. Then his hands dropped and his ears drooped with them. "No . . . I don't know what I want, okay?!" Pulling his legs up underneath him, he wrapped his arms around his knees and bowed his head in order to hide his face. His voice was low as he continued, "Everything's so messed up right now; why can't everyone just leave me alone and let me do what I want . . .?"

Renamon sighed as she replied in a low tone, "It's because of what you are. There is no peace in the Worlds for Gijinka; there never has been." Imouku growled and glared up at her.

"Yeah? Just what would you know about that anyway? You can't understand!"

"I understand much more than you think, Imouku." There was something in her voice that made the redhead blink and stare at her for a long moment. Then he dismissed the thought and returned to staring at his knees.

"Whatever. Look, I just want to be left alone for a little while, okay? If I wanted company I'd be with Ai and Makoto right now."

"You're not feeling well." It wasn't a question. Imouku responded by pulling his knees up towards his chest even tighter, his tail curled around his ankles.

"So what? I haven't felt right since I got stuck. But you wouldn't understand. You can't understand - Gijinka are meant to switch forms. When we can't . . . it's like if someone shackled your legs together so that you couldn't walk. And, well, I'm _sick of it_." He stood up, surreptitiously scrubbed at his eyes, and prepared to leap away without sparing a glance at the tall Digimon beside him. The redhead was startled into falling backwards and landing on his tail when a soft, _five fingered_ hand landed on his shoulder. "What . . .?" Imouku gasped out, staring up into the face that was looking down at him, undisguised amusement shining from bright blue eyes.

"I told you I understand far more than you thought I did, didn't I?"

**-TBC-**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Hey, look, chapter six - and it's not even a month later! Not only that, but it's the longest chapter yet! This is where the action finally starts picking up, folks. We're into the biggest chunk of the plot starting this chapter. Everybody party:D

. . . Okay, no more caffeine for _me _for a little while. Anyway, before you go on to read, I would once again like to point you all in the direction of **Impkat **who is rapidly proving to be completely indispensable to the progression of this story. Remember to check out her pretty pictures and the doujinshi over at her deviantArt account!

And, in other news, if you go to my profile and click on the homepage link, you'll be in for a treat courtesy of Impkat and myself. Feel free to check it out and laugh your heads off whenever necessary.

**Disclaimer: **Certain concepts are mine, my OCs are mine, etc, etc. Anything you see here that isn't recognizable as canon in some form or anothr is more than likely mine. If it is recognizable as canon, I'm just borrowing it.

**

* * *

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**The Last of the Gijinka**

**Chapter Six**

"Wha? How – but – but. . . . _**huh?" **_Imouku stammered, unable to wrap his mind around the fact that the Digimon who he had long since decided had taken a vow to stalk him until the day he died was, in fact, another Gijinka. The redhead could only stare stupidly up at the taller Gijinka from his position on his rear, even when his tail began sending painful signals that it wasn't made for being squished beneath him in such a manner. "Buh – buwhaa. . . " He couldn't seem to get his mouth to work right, so utterly dumbfounded was the young redhead. It didn't keep him from trying, though. "Beewhaabaaloo . . .?"

On second thought, maybe he should just give up for now.

A very quiet chuckle escaped the mouth of the figure before him, and a long braid nearly whacked Imouku in the face as she turned. He gawped at her, still finding it difficult to believe that the Gijinka woman that stood before him in a yellow Cheongsam with slits up the side and her silver hair bound tightly in a waist-length braid, was _Renamon_. Although, to think about it, it explained a few things – like how she had that almost infinite sense of where he was at any given point in time; Imouku may not have remembered very much about other Gijinka, but he did remember that his mother had often used a similar sense. He had always thought it was just because she was his mother, but maybe it wasn't if Renamon could do the same thing. Maybe it was just a female Gijinka thing – it could have been for all he knew.

"Buhhh . . ." He drawled, then shook his head rapidly to clear it and shouted, "So you've been letting me make a fool of myself in front of you all this time, going on and on about how you can't understand and blah blah blah when you knew it wasn't _true_?!? How could you _do_ that?!? Do you know how long I thought I was _alone_, that I was the _only one left_?!? And - And you were Gijinka the whole _time_?!?" Green eyes hardened and narrowed into angry slits as Imouku abruptly stood up and launched himself at the other Gijinka with an inarticulate cry of rage. His first three fireballs from his Night of Fire missed, badly, but the last two managed to catch the edge of the other Gijinka's long, tapered ears. Imouku growled and swung punch after punch at the much older Gijinka, all of which missed their mark as she neatly sidestepped them.

Finally, Imouku stepped back, then ran straight at her with his left hand full of fireballs and his right in a fist for a punch, only to drop straight off the roof as Renamon sidestepped once again. At first he didn't even quite realize that he was falling; a split second later he did, and he knew with absolute certainty that he would die falling from this height. He couldn't have kept the scream from ripping from his throat even if he had tried. He barely registered his surroundings as his T-shirt snagged on something, halting his fall nearly as soon as it had begun. The next thing he knew, he had been scooped up in the other Gijinka's arms in a manner that reminded him entirely too much of the day his mother had died.

Back on the rooftop, Imouku was deposited a safe distance from the roof's edge. Instead of attacking again, or even shouting at the other Gijinka, he simply sat where Renamon had placed him and stared at nothing in particular, a lost look resting on his face. All of his anger had been spent, leaving an empty numbness that he didn't quite understand in its wake. He had used up all of the energy he had summoned to fight with, leaving him exhausted and shaking, so that he no longer had the strength to fight - and the unwelcome reminder of his mother's death sapped him of all of his will, anyway. He was too drained to do so much as lift a finger to wipe away the tears that were welling up in his eyes – tears born of a mix of emotions so muddled together that he didn't even know what he was feeling, besides numb. His world was collapsing around him once again, and he was too pitifully weak to keep it from happening.

"Imouku. . . are you going to be alright?" There was concern in Renamon's voice, mixed with a noticeable trace of guilt.

'_Good,' _Imouku thought. _'She should feel guilty. After what she did . . .'_ He frowned, and his hands curled into fists. "Just. . .. just go away, Renamon. . . . Just go away and leave me alone. _Please._" He couldn't bring himself to look at her; she knew him better than anyone since his own mother had known him, and she had just proven that he knew next to nothing about her. Whatever esteem he had held her in – for he had admired her, even as he had found her annoying – she had ruined it. Somehow, even though he had been secretly longing to have another Gijinka to talk to, someone who could understand him and what he was going through, he would rather Renamon be a true Digimon. Even if he could never have felt completely safe around her, he had thought he knew her – to be shown how very little he really knew, how much she had kept concealed from him made him realize how vulnerable he still was.

"Imouku . . . . . . I am . . . sorry."

"Just go away."

A few minutes passed without a reply, and at long last Imouku dared to look up. Renamon – or whatever her real name was – was gone, and he was alone again at last. Imouku shuddered and drew his knees up to his chest as a rumble of thunder announced the return of the earlier rainstorm. As the raindrops started falling, leaving little spots of dampness on his clothing, the redheaded Gijinka finally felt safe enough to release the emotion that had been building up inside him for so long, and proceeded to bury his face in his knees and cry softly.

* * *

"Aaaa-_choo! A-choo! Achoo!" _Imouku shivered and wiped a hand across his watery eyes and sniffed loudly, before letting loose yet another string of sneezes. Letting out a sigh, he let himself sag into the couch cushions, managing a rather good impression of being entirely boneless. A soft 'clink' drew his attention to the coffee table, where Amarante had just placed a teacup filled nearly to the brim with hot green tea. Imouku blinked his bleary eyes and stared at the cup, wondering if he had the energy to try and pick it up or not. He rolled his eyes upwards to Amarante as she reached down and placed a hand on his forehead, wondering idly what she was doing but feeling too weak to get onto her about it. The twins' mother shook her head as she pulled her hand away.

"You definitely have a fever," she said to Imouku, who twitched an ear in response and sagged that much more into the couch; much lower and he'd wind up sliding off. Amarante coughed and watched as the redhead's watery green eyes rolled lazily in her direction before continuing in a lecturing manner, "This is what you get for staying out all night in the rain, you know."

Imouku sniffed and muttered, "Shuddub," his voice lacking any and all venom. Amarante only raised an eyebrow and pointed to the tea sitting innocently on the coffee table. The Gijinka took the hint and hauled himself into a sitting position with a groan. He grabbed the tea from where it was sitting and started drinking it, with frequent pauses to catch his breath – his nose was refusing to work, forcing him to breathe through his mouth. Amarante watched him drink it, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"You are going to go to bed as soon as you've finished that, okay?" He nodded absently, not really hearing what the human was saying. He was too focused on how miserable he felt, the strange pain surrounding his nose and eyes, and on his inability to breathe. He did, however, react when he heard Amarante mutter, "Hmm, I don't think there's much around here that would fit you . . . maybe some of Ai's pajamas would do in a pinch . . . " Imouku immediately gagged and spat a mouthful of tea across the room.

"Are you _kidden meh?!_" The Gijinka shot the human woman the most venomous glare he was currently capable of – which wasn't very venomous since he had to keep wiping at his eyes and nose. "You're _crady_ if you dink you're geddin meh anywhere nea dose . . . dose _dings_!" Following his tirade, Imouku burst into another string of sneezes, his ears flying up into the air with each one.

Amarante blinked, "Well you certainly can't wear those clothes to bed – what else can I do?"

Imouku rolled his eyes and replied, "I cun so wear dese – _watsu_!" The Gijinka closed his eyes in concentration, and suddenly was wearing a simple set of black and purple pajamas; complete with his bandanna. His gloves and shoes, however, were gone. Amarante blinked, then frowned in concern as the redhead started swaying back and forth in place. Imouku forced his eyes open halfway and shot a weak but triumphant grin up at the human, saying, "Dold you . . . I cud wea . . . dese. No pony dings pwease –" before his eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out, falling back into the couch cushions in a slump.

He woke up a few minutes later, safely ensconced in his futon and, somewhat belatedly, wondered how he got there. Imouku pondered this for a few moments before giving up; his thoughts were clouded and he couldn't concentrate long enough to think heavily about anything. The headache that had started to develop along with the rest of his cold wasn't making thinking any easier for him; in fact it made him just want to roll over again and go back to sleep. The ringing of the doorbell from the front hall, however, wouldn't let him do that.

Muffled voices echoed through the wall as the twins' mother answered the door. Imouku didn't really pay attention to them at first, at least not until he heard Amarante raise her voice. That made him pay attention, despite how ill he felt – the only time Kobayashi Amarante raised her voice was if someone said something bad about the twins or her husband, and when that happened she was to be avoided at all costs, because she was positively terrifying when she was angry.

"_No_, first tell me why you want to talk to him; he doesn't need to be bothered right now unless it's an emergency of some sort!" Imouku sat up upon hearing that – was that _him_ she was talking about? He crept over to the door and leaned against it, as much as to keep himself upright as to hear what was being said. The redhead's eyes widened as he recognized the voice of Makino Ruki; why was _she_ here? If it had anything to do with what had happened with Renamon . . .

"Look, I just need to talk to him about what happened last night, that's all. Renamon's really upset - all I know is that she went to speak with Impmon and came back miserable."

Imouku's eyes narrowed, then he sneezed again. _Renamon_ was upset? Hah! That was _great_ - after what happened he wanted her to stay _upset_ for as long as possible – preferably until he was well enough to exact fiery vengeance. Or maybe he could just shave all her fur off – that would serve her right and be good for a laugh, as well. His attention was pulled away from his plans of revenge and refocused on the conversation when he heard Amarante invite Ruki inside, an offer that the Tamer was quick to turn down.

"Kobayashi-san, I would love to come inside, but I don't really have much time; I just wanted to come by and ask Impmon if he'll apologize to Renamon for whatever he did that's made her so upset."

Well that had done it. Imouku winced at the knowledge that Renamon was about to have to deal with the loss of her Tamer, because Kobayashi Amarante was on the warpath.

"Why should he apologize?! I don't know what happened last night any more than you do, but whatever it was caused him to stay out all night in the rain, and come in right before the twins left for school looking like he'd lost his last friend in the world! I have never seen him so upset in all the years I've known him, and now on top of all this he has one of the nastiest colds I have ever seen; do you really expect me to drag that poor thing out of bed and to this door just so that you can tell him to apologize for something that broke his heart!" Imouku blinked; he'd only ever heard the twins' mother get that upset when someone had hurt Ai or Makoto – why was she reacting like that for _him_?

Suddenly the world tilted sideways, and Imouku found himself grabbing for support so that he didn't fall down from the rush of dizziness. Unfortunately the only thing his hand found was the door latch, which tilted down due to his frantic attempt to stay upright, releasing the catch of the door and allowing it to open inwards and smack the hapless Gijinka in the head. Imouku grabbed at the injury and wound up collapsing to a sitting position.

"Oww . . . " The Gijinka moaned, rubbing at the sore spot, even as the room refused to stop moving around him. The next thing he knew, Amarante was there and was checking him over like he had seen her do for the twins on many occasions.

"What are you doing up? You should still be in bed! Did you hit your head? Let me see - " Her hands were prying his away from his head, even as he leaned back to try and get away from her somewhat overzealous administrations.

"I'b fide!" Imouku declared, fixing the human woman with a decidedly annoyed glare even as he put up with her fussing – he couldn't really stop her, after all, not with the way the room was spinning around him. She did back off, however, when he launched into another long series of sneezes that made his eyes water even further.

"You weren't kidding when you said he was sick, were you?" At the sound of the intruding voice, Imouku looked up, trying to focus past his dizziness so that he could see what was going on. He winced as Ruki stepped up to the doorway, but didn't bother trying to shift into his human form – he didn't have the energy to be able to do so. He felt Amarante put a protective arm around his shoulders even as the Tamer took a step backwards, her eyes openly displaying her shock at Imouku's appearance. Her mouth opened, then closed as she swallowed. Then she raised an eyebrow and, recovering herself, said, "Well . . . at least now it's clear why you went ballistic on Terriermon the other day."

* * *

_The tiny redhead laughed in delight and pointed a short finger at the night sky, bright green eyes wide in awe as he snuggled closer to his mother's shoulder. They were lying on the ground together, watching the sphere in the sky that was another world. Imouku was fascinated by the sphere and had begged his mother to take him outside their small, securely hidden home so that he could watch the data streams and wonder what the world in the sky really was like. At the moment, however, another, equally fascinating object had captured his attention._

"_Look Mama! Look!" Green eyes widened in delight and wonder as the glowing object he was watching flew around in the sky, dipping close to the mother and son before shooting back upwards. "Ooh, wha's it, Mama? Wha's it?" His mother smiled, tugging softly on one of his small purple ears as she replied,_

"_That's a DigiGnome, Imouku."_

"_Dig'no?" Imouku's nose scrunched up with the effort of pronouncing the difficult word, and he turned his head to look at his mother. "Is' playin'?" He waved at the DigiGnome, calling to it, "__**Hey**__! Is you playin'?" His mother shushed him as the DigiGnome flew down until it was mere inches away from the upturned faces of the Gijinka; Imouku's eyes crossed in an effort to focus on the glowing creature. It hovered there for a moment, until Imouku reached a curious finger up to poke it and it darted away, laughing. A minute later it was back again, and toddler and DigiGnome stared at one another while Imouku's mother looked on in amusement._

_Imouku's face lit up with a big grin, and he pointed to the sphere in the sky. "You see tha'?" After a moment or two had passed, the small Gijinka continued, "I's goin' there - I gotsa get bigger firs'; but I's gonna go." The DigiGnome purred in an agreeable tone, then suddenly turned and flew off. Imouku waved at it, calling, "Bye, Dig'no!" Then he turned back to his mother, who was sitting up and smiling at him, and said, "I's gonna go t' th' big ci'cle, 'kay?"_

_His mother smiled and kissed him on the forehead, saying, "Okay, but you have to take your father and I with you, too." The little redhead shook his head furiously, ears wagging. His mother blinked, confused by her sons actions. "What's the matter, Imouku? Do you really want to go all that way by yourself? Tears welled up in the little one's eyes as he shuddered and clung tightly to his mother before bursting out in a full-fledged wail._

"_Nooo Mama I don' wan' go 'looooone I gotsa' but I don' wan' tooooo!" Sobs shook his tiny frame, and it was all his mother could do to try and calm him, pulling him into her lap, murmuring soft words and shushing him. After a few minutes, his sobs tapered off into hiccups as he shook with the force of his emotion. Finally he blinked up at his mother, teary-eyed, wiped his nose with one tiny hand, and whispered, "You wan' go Mama, r'lly?" The Black Tailmon Gijinka gave her son her most reassuring smile and rubbed his ears affectionately._

"_Of course I want to go with you, silly. I'll go with you anywhere and everywhere – even to the "big circle"." Imouku sniffled again and started sucking on his middle fingers._

"_P'omise, Mama? You p'omise?"_

_His mother nodded and hugged him tightly, nuzzling his hair._

"_I promise, Imouku."_

The first thought that entered Imouku's mind as he woke from his dream was that his mother had lied to him. Paired with it was a feeling of hurt and loss that nearly overwhelmed his still-sleepy mind. Grumbling to himself, the Gijinka forced his eyes open, determined to wake up fully and shove those feelings far enough inside him that they would all but cease to exist entirely. Judging by the light in the room, it was mid-morning; he must have slept through the rest of yesterday.

He sat up and rubbed at his head, which was fortunately hurting a good deal less than it had before he went to sleep. Even his dizziness had receded – enough so that he thought he might be able to risk getting out of bed. Then his stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since he had gotten back that morning. Fully focused on soothing the raging beast that was his empty belly, Imouku got up from his futon and opened the door, planning on raiding the refrigerator again – only to be squashed into by the two panicked bodies that were his Tamers.

"_Im-chan! Im-chan!"_ Hunger instantly (if temporarily) thrown aside in the face of his Tamers' alarm, Imouku stepped back and asked,

"Whad's goin on?" His query was immediately followed by two sneezes, but which were milder than their predecessors. He was definitely feeling better now. Through still-somewhat bleary eyes, he watched his Tamers huff in an attempt to catch their breath, worry and fear written all over their young faces. It was Ai who finally answered his question, albeit in a rushed, panicked manner – Makoto was too out of breath to reply at all.

"Takato-san called and said we all need to hurry to the park – it's an emergency!" The redhead blinked, confused as his still somewhat addled thought processes tried to process what the two were saying. Then his eyes narrowed as he spotted the backpacks each of the twins sported – they were loaded down so heavily that both of his Tamers were slightly hunched over. The Gijinka blinked, and curiously pushed Makoto's backpack lightly, which despite the gentleness of the touch was still enough to overbalance the boy and send him crashing to the ground. Imouku's jaw dropped.

"Whad da heck do you two hab in dose dings?!?" Makoto picked himself up off the floor with some difficulty, and the twins shared a look before replying,

"Important stuff!"

The Gijinka was unimpressed. "Uh-huh. Sure id is. So whad's goin on, anybay? Pineable-head ead all da bwead in da bagery again??" He asked, sniffing. The twins' only response was to grab Imouku's hands and start dragging him out the door at a rapid pace. He was less than amused by this and resisted their efforts all the way. "Hey! _Hey! _You can'd make meh go like_ dis! Leggo! Ai, Makooootooooooo!"_ Despite the redhead's attempts to get free, his Tamers managed to wrestle him out of their room and almost to the door before he finally broke their grip on his arms and jumped away. He sneezed once and relaxed; he could already feel his sinuses unclogging – the best thing about being Gijinka was that he healed extremely quickly; chances were this cold would be gone before he even reached the park. "Look, I'b nod saying I wod't go, okay?" He took a deep breath through his nose as it finished unclogging, relishing the ability to breathe through it, before continuing in a clearer voice, "If it's really that big of a deal, there's no way I'm letting you two go by yourselves. I just don't want to go like _this!"_

The twins blinked before comprehension spread over their faces, and they blushed.

"Sorry, Im-chan."

"Yeah, sorry."

The Gijinka's eyes softened, "Eh, don't worry about it." Then he grinned a positively diabolical smile. "But if I haveta go, I'm going in _style_!"

* * *

By the time the Gijinka (in human form) and his Tamers arrived at the park, they had received many surprised stares from passerby – and Imouku loved it. It wasn't so much the way he was dressed in and of itself, but rather the combination of the innocent appearance and manner of dress of his Tamers as they clung happily to his hands, and his own admittedly more . . . intimidating clothing. Rather than simply shifting out of his pajamas and back into his previous outfit, the redheaded Gijinka had gotten creative. While his trademark bandanna was still in place, he had traded his rather plain purple t-shirt for a more elaborate one with black sleeves and black shirttails, his ordinary red gloves for fingerless, backless gloves, his unadorned pants for long shorts with large zippered pockets, and, as a final touch, elaborate, flame-design boots.

He made this look _good_.

His good mood instantly evaporated, however, upon seeing the gathered Tamers and their partners. His gaze landed on Renamon and his eyes narrowed as he glared. The faux-Digimon looked as inscrutable as always; she certainly didn't look as upset as her Tamer had claimed. Ruki leaned against a tree next to Renamon, and the human girl raised an eyebrow at the Gijinka's new fashion statement but remained silent. Ryo immediately noticed his presence too, and winked at him.

"Glad you could make it!" The oldest Tamer's greeting drew the attention of the rest of the gathering, all of whom had been focused around a rather upset Guardromon, - his Tamer was conspicuously absent from the group. Jenrya's eyes immediately narrowed – he recognized the redhead in front of him right off the bat. Shuichon just blinked and edged behind her brother, somewhat frightened on the stranger. Kenta just looked confused. Takato's eyes lit up and he waved a greeting.

"Hey – you changed your outfit! But you can still tell how big of an Impmon fan you are, huh?" Across the clearing, Ruki's hand hit her forehead with an audible '_smack'_ as she groaned.

Imouku rolled his eyes, beginning to accept the fact that the Gogglehead just _wasn't getting it_ before looking over the gathered Digimon, most of whom were surprised, confused, or just indifferent to his presence. Terriermon's reaction, in particular, grabbed his attention. The little Digimon clung to his tamer while staring at the redhead with wide, dark eyes and a dumbstruck look on his face. The Gijinka couldn't keep himself from snickering in amusement – finally, he'd gotten Terriermon to shut up, and he hadn't even had to _do_ anything.

A snuffling sound drew his attention to Guilmon, who was sniffing the air and obviously confused. The reptilian Digimon walked up to the redhead, still sniffing him. Then he turned to his Tamer and proceeded to ask, "Takato – why does Impmon look like a human now?"

"Guilmon, what are you tal. . .king. . . a- _What_?" The look on Takato's face was enough to send Imouku into a laughing fit. It took nearly a full minute for him to recover himself, during which time Takato sputtered, and Kenta tried to get someone to explain to him just what was going on – the poor kid was very confused by all that was happening. Finally, the Gijinka managed to calm himself, and stayed calm as long as he didn't look at Takato for more than a few seconds – if he did, he started snickering again. Ai and Makoto exchanged confused glances, wondering what exactly it was that had caused the extreme turnaround in their partner's attitude – at the last meeting they hadn't been able to drag him out of hiding until everyone was gone, and now it was like he really didn't care that he was currently the object of the other Tamer's attention!

What they didn't know was that the visit from Ruki while they were still at school the day before had put some things in perspective for their partner. The human had helped Amarante get the still-dizzy Gijinka back into his futon, then sat next to him while the overprotective woman went off to get a thermometer and a glass of water for the ailing redhead. Neither of the two had said anything at first; Ruki just watched Imouku while he fiddled with the blanket, refusing to look at her. The silence had quickly been broken, however, when the Gijinka rent the air with yet another series of sneezes. Without a word, the Tamer had handed him a nearby box of Kleenex, which Imouku had quickly taken and used.

"_. . . .Dags," Imouku muttered, scrubbing at his eyes before finally turning to look at the human, confused by her actions. He blinked and croaked out a hoarse, "Why . . .?"but couldn't continue – he wasn't even really sure exactly what he wanted to say. Fortunately for him, Ruki understood the Gijinka's intent well enough that he didn't actually have to speak at all. The Tamer rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance._

"_What, is it a crime to want to help? You're so sick you can't even move, let alone anything else." Then her eyes narrowed, "Besides, I don't think you would have done anything anyway, except maybe run away." Imouku's ears dropped and he grumbled at her, but the words were unintelligible. "Give me some credit here," Ruki continued. "You were terrified when I walked in here and saw you, don't bother denying it. I'm betting that this is why no-one's seen you around for a few weeks, too." She shook her head as Imouku launched into a string of mostly unintelligible protests, his voice hindered by both his inability to breathe and the soreness of his throat._

_Sighing, the Tamer stood up to go, but paused at the door and looked back over her shoulder at him. "I'm probably cutting you too much slack here, but I'm not going to even ask what happened between you and Renamon last night. Just . . . when you get that head of yours straightened out, think about this: Why are you so afraid of our hatred for something you can't help? If any of us were going to hate and fear you, or whatever it is that's running through that head of yours, we would have done it back when you were our enemy. What makes you think that a little thing like this is going to affect anyone when something like that didn't?" Then the Tamer continued out the door, bidding a polite good-bye to Amarante as she went._

_Imouku stared after her for a few minutes, a thoughtful expression on his face._

"Well, _he's _definitely back to normal," Ruki drawled sarcastically, to which the Gijinka replied by making a face at her. The Tamer ignored him and continued, "As fascinating as this little staring session is, maybe we should get back to _why we're here_?" Most of the Tamers and Digimon sobered at that, but all her comment did to Terriermon was finally snap him out of his state of shock enough to let him start speaking again.

"Wait a minute! Wait! You're a _Gijinka?_"

Imouku grinned evilly and shifted back to his hybrid form, igniting a single flame from his Night of Fire attack.

"What's the matter, Terriermon? Scared I'm going to eat you?"

"Cut it out, you two. You can torment each other later; we have more important things to worry about right now. Or has everyone forgotten that Hirokazu was kidnapped earlier?"

Jenrya's comment quieted the rowdy Gijinka and Digimon down, and at last the gathered Tamers tackled the problem that was facing them now – the kidnapping of Shiota Hirokazu that had happened earlier that day. Takato was the first to hear about it, after literally being chased down by the distraught Guardromon. Even now, hours later, the machine Digimon was still upset and nearly inconsolable, for he blamed himself for what had happened to his Tamer.

Once the groups' attention was uniformly given to the machine Digimon, Jenrya nodded to him and prompted him with a, "Why don't you tell everyone what happened, Guardromon? We can figure out what to do once we know what we're dealing with."

The sad-eyed Digimon nodded, and launched into his tale.

_Hirokazu hadn't seen Shurikasa for half a week, and was starting to worry that the pretty girl had lost interest in him. Guardromon had listened to his Tamer agonize about things he could have done to have frightened her off as the boy tried to figure out why the girl had been absent for the last few days. When she finally showed up to visit him that morning, right before he left for school, the boy was so happy to see her that he gladly agreed to help her go look for the necklace she claimed she had lost in a nearby alley the evening before. The Tamer was already late for school anyway; what was a bit longer when he was helping a pretty girl out?_

_Along the way, Hirokazu questioned the odd girl about where she had been, but never got a straight answer out of her. Guardromon noticed the girl's left eyebrow developing an odd twitch, but hadn't thought to comment on it. All had seemed perfectly normal until the girl let out an exclamation and told Hirokazu she had spotted the necklace in the back of the alley, and proceeded to drag him to the spot so she wouldn't have to get her hands dirty picking it up._

_What happened next occurred far too quickly for Guardromon to be able to step in and help his Tamer. One second the girl was holding Hirokazu's hand (Hirokazu blushing like a maniac); the next she had a long, thin, curved knife at his throat, had sprouted Digimon features, and was backing towards a glowing portal in the alley wall. Hirokazu gasped out a,_

"_Wha-" and his captor pressed the weapon a little tighter to his skin, earning a wince and a hitched breath from the boy._

"_Shut up, human. I've had more than enough of your babble!" Shurikasa hissed and flattened her ears in irritation as she used the sadistic-looking weapon to draw a thin line of blood from Hirokazu's throat. "What I wouldn't give just to kill you right here, you pathetic child."_

"_Unhand him, you _fiend_!" Guardromon shouted, shaking an angry fist at his Tamer's captor. Unfortunately, all the Digimon's angry protest did was make the Gijinka start laughing._

"_Do you really think I will listen to you? You can't even attack me – if you do, the human will be dead before you ever land a – single – blow." Guardromon made as if to protest, but the Gijinka cut him off. "Do you really want to risk it?" The Digimon took in his Tamers' terrified expression and wilted. Shurikasa smiled, and began backing herself and the human into the portal, but continued speaking. "Oh, don't worry – you'll get him back. You just have to bring the Child of Youkano to the Citadel within eight days' time. If you take any longer . . ." She grinned, and continued. "You get the idea."_

_Still hanging on to the Tamer, Shurikasa backed into the portal and was gone, the portal immediately closing behind her without a sign of it every having been there._

"So let me get this straight," Ruki broke in, interrupting the end of Guardromon's explanation. "We have eight days to get to a place none of us have ever even heard of, let alone know where it is, and deliver . . . What, exactly?"

". . . Me." The group turned as one to focus on Imouku, who had paled considerably. His ears were lowered and his tail drooped, and he refused to look anyone in the eyes as he scuffed the toe of a boot along the ground. The twins, sensing his distress, clung tightly to each of his arms. Finally his expression turned angry and he launched a Night of Fire into the sky, ranting, "I should have known that stupid Elecmon was after me; everything was going great 'til she showed up!"

Renamon spoke then – the first time she'd said anything for the entire meeting. She sounded weary.

"Are you certain she meant you?" Imouku spun around and glared at her, growling. "Of course I'm sure, fox-face!" Then he turned away and proceeded to ignore her. Takato blinked;

"Okay, I'm not sure I want to know what's going on between you two, but Renamon's got a point; why are you so sure it's you they're after? I mean, sure you're a Gijinka too but that doesn't have to mean anything, does it?"

The redheaded Gijinka rolled his eyes, "Youkano was my father's name. You happy now?" Takato and a few of the others blinked in surprise, but it was only the Gogglehead who voiced what they were all thinking.

"Wait a minute – you have parents?"

"I _did_," the Gijinka spat out bitterly, before jumping into the nearest tree. "Look, can we hurry up and get to the important stuff already? I'm starving!" As if on cue, the discussion immediately picked up as the group debated about what to do – obviously they had to go and get Hirokazu back, but the twins were adamantly against giving up their partner for anything or anyone – they didn't trust the "bad guys" to let him go again. Then there was the problem of getting to the Digital World; once that topic was brought up the conversation died down as no one could think about just how to get there. Then Jenrya had a brainwave.

"Hey, Guardromon – can you take us back to the alley where Hirokazu was kidnapped?"

* * *

True to Guardromon's story, there was no sign of the portal that had been used earlier that day. In fact, the only one who noticed anything odd about the alley at all was Imouku – and he realized with a start that this was the same alley he had originally seen the Elecmon Gijinka in. His eyes narrowed and with a thoughtful frown on his face, he watched idly as Takato banged his fist on the wall where the portal had been present, finding it solid and unyielding.

What followed was a series of attempts to get the portal to open, ranging from more thumping on the wall to the later (and much more desperate) attempts at speaking some form of phrase that would open the portal, none of which worked. The Gijinka ignored the goings-on for the most part, instead deciding to search through the twins' backpacks for something to eat. He didn't find any food at first, but did discover that neither of the twins really knew what they were getting into when they loaded their packs. The Gijinka proceeded to take out and throw over his shoulder anything that wasn't necessary for the trip. Makoto's pack had everything from his toy robot to a miniature board game, while Ai's held several of her schoolbooks and a very thick journal that she hastily grabbed and clutched to her chest, refusing to give it to her partner. Finally, Imouku located a somewhat-squished container of a dozen riceballs, which he then proceeded to devour at an alarming rate of speed. Then he proceeded to eat the score of chocolate bars Makoto had secreted away in the bottom of his pack.

Neither of the twins was pleased.

"Im-chan! We need those!"

"We have to have them, Im-chan!"

Imouku rolled his eyes and replied after he finished off the last chocolate bar, "No you don't. None of that stuff needs to go; this isn't like that trip to America on your birthday last year." The twins blinked watery eyes up at him and pouted in unison. The redhead crossed his arms and looked away, "Uh-uh; that's not going to work. You're not taking all that stuff – you can't run with it, you can't bring it." Still pouting, the twins glanced over at the pile of discarded toys and books, then back up at their partner.

"But . . .Im-chan, we can't just leave it all here! Someone will take it!" Imouku opened his mouth, about to respond to the twins' plea, when a voice spoke up from the entrance to the alley.

"I can take your things home for you, if you want." Tamers, Digimon and Gijinka all looked up to see Juri standing there. Imouku immediately backed up into the shadows, hoping she wouldn't see him – he had kept out of Juri's way as much as possible for the last few years, and didn't' intend to stop doing so any time soon. The twins had no such qualms and ran straight up to the older girl, identical smiles on their faces.

"Really, Juri-san?"

"Juri-san, you'll help us?"

The brunette smiled at the twins as she replied, "Of course!" Takato saw her and stopped his investigation of the wall; running over to the girl with a bright, if confused, smile.

"Hey, Juri! Um, what are you doing here?" Juri greeted the Gogglehead with a slight bow and a smile before gathering the twins' things into her own bag – she strained a bit in order to lift it, but managed all right once she had it off the ground.

"I was out for a walk and saw everyone; what are you all doing here, anyway?" She asked curiously as her gaze drifted around the group. Imouku held his breath as her eyes drifted over to where he was standing, then relaxed as the girl drew her attention back to Takato. The Gijinka knew that avoiding Juri wasn't the best thing, but he felt he had some good reasons for wanting to do so – he didn't want to have to go over the whole explanation of who he was right now; he wanted a little more time before he was forced to answer all of the questions that were going to be asked of him soon. Also, he just found it hard to talk to or even look at the girl; she may have forgiven him but there was still an awkwardness whenever he had been forced to talk with her – an awkwardness that he didn't think would ever go away fully. The redheaded Gijinka's attention was drawn out of his thoughts and back to the alley entrance when Takato started stammering,

"Uh, well, er, that is we're just, um-" The Gogglehead gave up and blushed a bit.

"You're going back to the Digital World, aren't you? Is that where Hirokazu-kun is?" The only sign of the brunette's discomfort was the slight tightening of her grip on the bag she held, and she continued on despite Takato's stammering. "That's all right. But . . . does anyone know you're going besides me? Yamaki-san or any of your parents?" Most of the Tamers nodded, but Ai and Makoto exchanged sheepish glances.

"Oops," they spoke in unison. Imouku groaned rolled his eyes; of course they hadn't told their mother – silly woman would have done everything to either keep them in the Real World, or load them down with so many "emergency" supplies that they wouldn't have been able to sit up, let alone get out of the house. Ai and Makoto shot Juri a pleading look and asked, "Juri-san . . . could you . . .?" The brunette smiled and nodded. They immediately bowed in thanks as she walked off, calling a quick,

"Come home soon everyone, and stay safe," as she went.

The group stayed quiet for a minute after she left, allowing Imouku – who had gotten rather tired of how long the humans had taken in trying to figure out the portal – to walk over to the wall where the portal had been and investigate it himself. It really didn't look like anything other than a wall, but there was . . . something . . . about it that made him wonder. Something that was very familiar to him, somehow. The Gijinka's eyes narrowed as he gently reached out with his right hand, running his fingers along the wall like he was drawing back a curtain.

As his fingers moved, the light of the portal appeared. Once it had reached a size large enough for the group to enter, the Gijinka turned to face the Tamers, keeping his hand along the "edge" of the portal. He took in their shocked faces and grinned.

"Well, are you going through, or are you just going to stand there and stare at my awesomeness all day?"

**-TBC-**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Well, here's Chapter Seven. And it's double the length on the average of the previous chapters. I actually broke 10,000 words with this one, people - thhis is the first time I have ever done that! I am so happy::weeps from joy:: On a side note, some of the major elements of the plot are finally jumpstarted; we've gotten rolling, people - there's no turning back now! Oh, and I'm just seven pages shy of 100 on my word document of this story, so that's another milestone coming up.

This story is turning out to have a lot of firsts for me, now that I think about it. Anyway, I once again want to turn your attention to **Impkat, **who has been working very very hard on a special mini-doujinshi for White Day. She's sworn to me that it will be posted by March 14th, 2008(tomorrow as I'm writing this), so be sure to check it out over at deviantArt! It takes place in the same context as the website "World of theGijinka"(the homepage link inmyprofile) and as such is set a good deal of time after this story. Other than that, I won't say anything else about it - you'll just have to see for yourselves!

**Disclaimer: **All characters that are recognizable from Digimon are obviously not mine. Others, including the Gijinka (with two notable exceptions, of course) are mine, although their Digimon forms are not. How would I explain that in court? o.o Oh well, you know it's not mine so please don't sue. All I have is a college meal card and a couple of lint covered pennies, so you wouldn't get much if you did!

* * *

The Last of the Gijinka

**Chapter Seven**

"**It doesn't matter who you are! I won't let you hurt them!"**_ Imouku heard himself scream, and he felt the pain of betrayal – betrayal of the deepest, most horrific sort. He half-noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that he was standing protectively in front of the Tamers – nearly all of whom were unconscious, while the few who were conscious were in no shape to stand, let alone fight. It was all up to him now; this burden rested on his shoulders alone. A dark figure loomed in front of him, and he couldn't clearly make out what it was. The only thing about its appearance that he could make out about the figure, with any certainty was the eyes, which he could see all too clearly. The angry –and slightly insane- green eyes glared down upon him, and he matched them with a stare of his own, determined to prove that he was not afraid. _

_His hair was soaked, sticking to his face and neck in sopping tendrils that had been darkened to the color of blood, and rainwater dripped into his eyes, mingling with the tears that ran down his cheeks. He glared defiantly at the monster in front of him, the one who had done this – who had betrayed him, who was even now attempting to destroy him. Somehow he would have to defeat his betrayer, despite his injuries, despite his fatigue – even with the broken arm that hung limp at his side, he had to defeat him, no matter how much it hurt to do so. His Tamers' –and the others'- lives depended on it. _

_He had to kill him for their survival. The Tamers would die unless he killed him! They had to live, they had to make it out of there and back to the Real World where it would be at least somewhat safer; he had no choice. The thought of his own escape was pushed to the back of his mind; it was unimportant; what mattered was that the Tamers – his _**friends**_ – escape safely, that no more of them would suffer because of him._

_He had to kill him. Even though it was like killing a part of himself._

"_**Little fool . . . do you really think you can stand up to me?"**_

_Imouku only hesitated for a second before replying, with his head bowed toward his chest and the last of his tears dripping off of his cheeks, " Yes." Not really – how could he, trapped in this form with no way to Digivolve? He just wasn't strong enough –had _**never**_ been strong enough - but he had no choice. He had to do this._

_He _**had**_ to. _

_There was nothing else to be done._

"_**Then you will pay for your foolishness – with your life!"**_

_Imouku braced himself for one of the most difficult moments of his life._

The Gijinka came back to reality with a strangled cry, extremely aware that the entire group was staring at him with thinly veiled – in most cases - concern. He glared at them and huffed grumpily, adamantly ignoring their confused and concerned queries as he mumbled out the question,

"Again?"

At the collective nods of the group, Imouku let out a disgruntled sigh. This was the third time he had experienced strange waking dreams since the group had arrived in the Digital World nearly eight hours ago – he would simply freeze in place and he saw nothing and heard nothing but the dream. The first time he had nearly toppled over, and it was only because Renamon saw him falling and caught him before he hit the ground that he didn't snap out of it with a mouthful of dirt. Instead of thanking her, Imouku grumbled at her and ignored her every attempt to speak to him, only partially because he was still angry with her. He was more concerned about what, exactly, was happening to him. These dream-things were occurring far more frequently than any such things had been back in the real world, and it was bothering the redheaded Gijinka greatly – partly because it was the same waking dream every time.

He did not appreciate having repetitive visions of being the only one left standing to fight an incredibly powerful . . . something.

"Im-chan, will you be alright?" The twins chorused in unison as they stared up at him, hanging onto his hands. Imouku blinked down at them before eyeing the rest of the group. The other Tamers had started walking again, despite their concern for the redhead – they only had a short amount of time to rescue Hirokazu, after all, and they couldn't afford to wait any longer than absolutely necessary. Imouku was actually rather grateful for this, as it kept the others from asking him the questions he knew that he would eventually have to answer. Any reason to delay the inevitable was a good one, in his mind, although he couldn't help but feel at least a little guilty that he was benefiting from a situation that was kind of his fault in the first place. A pull on his hands caused Imouku to turn his attention from his thoughts and back to his Tamers; at the sight of their worried gazes, the Gijinka purposefully let the frown that had come from his dark thoughts fall away and he grinned at them, tugging his hands gently out of their grips.

"What are you two worrying about? I'm fine!"

Although Imouku felt like he was being less than convincing, for some reason his Tamers bought the fib and nodded, wandering off to the front of the group, which the redhead was admittedly lagging far behind. The Gijinka was extremely glad that over the last few years, the twins had developed the ability to tell when their partner wanted their company, or when he'd rather be left alone to his thoughts, such as now. He had a lot to think about lately, it seemed. The redhead listened to the conversation going on in front of him for a few moments, and then tuned it out again. The majority of the Tamers were discussing where they should be going – after all, none of them knew the location of the place they were supposed to be going to, let alone what they were supposed to do when they got there. Just giving them what they had asked for was unacceptable, of course, for none of them were willing to sacrifice one friend for another. Instead, they were convinced that somehow they needed to come up with an escape plan, only they couldn't do that without knowing what their destination was like, bringing them back to square one and starting the discussion over again.

Imouku felt more than a little annoyed that they were discussing this without him – after all, he was as much involved in this as they were! More, really, since it was _him _the crazy Gijinka had wanted, and it was his people doing this in the first place; he definitely deserved a place in the decision-making! Still . . . he didn't really feel like talking, let alone about what the crazy Elecmon Gijinka wanted with him – along with whatever other Gijinka were working with her, because there were more even if none of the Tamers or their partners had seen them. While, he would never admit it, Imouku did hope that Hirokazu would be okay; he didn't want another human to get hurt because of him; regardless of the person they were. That it was yet another Tamer just made it worse. The redhead gave a small, frustrated sigh and let his ears and tail droop.

" . . . Something on your mind?" Imouku jumped at the suddenness of the question and glared at Renamon, who had dropped back to walk beside him without him noticing her presence. Scowling, the redhead folded his arms huffily and glanced away, instantly on edge; he neither noticed nor cared that Renamon herself seemed a bit more tense than usual, and conveniently ignored the hurt in her expression that lingered from his earlier refusal to acknowledge her presence. He was still very angry with her, and was determined to let her know – if it hurt her, then that was fine with him and she should just learn to deal with it because he wasn't going to forgive her for a very long time.

Neither Gijinka nor faux-Digimon said anything for the next few minutes, but eventually the redhead's eyebrow developed a twitch from the continuing tension and he hissed out,

"_Of course_ something's on my mind _fox face_." He paused for a moment and blinked in a confused and frustrated manner, before letting out a low mumble of, "Why do _you_ care, anyway?" He watched out of the corner of his eye as Renamon turned slightly, watching him with an inscrutable look on her face. Her ears twitched once as she said, softly,

"I care because I am your friend, Imouku."

The redhead huffed in incredulity – how could he believe her after what she had done- and stopped walking, turning so that his back was to her while he scanned the horizon, not because he was trying to watch for anything in particular, but rather because he didn't want to have to see the hurt expression on her face when he replied with a not-quite-under-his-breath mutter of,

"Are you _really . . .?"_

* * *

Shurikasa whimpered, squeezing her ears tightly to her head with her fists as her face contorted in agony. This was by far the most severe punishment she had ever had inflicted upon her. Never before in all of her life had she endured such suffering; this was far worse than any torture she had ever undergone before, and there had been several occasions that she had once thought were impossible to top – a worse punishment could not have been inflicted on her short of death, of that the Elecmon Gijinka was entirely certain. The blue-haired Gijinka fell to her knees in agony, and she could no longer contain the scream she had been holding back.

"_**Shut up already!**__"_

Sitting in the holding cell that Shurikasa was being forced to keep an eye on, Shiota Hirokazu simply grinned, adjusted his visor, folded his arms behind his head, and sang louder.

Having her ears - and sanity - viciously assaulted was not what Shurikasa had been expecting when she had delivered the human to the Citadel of the Forsaken earlier that day; in fact, she had thought she had finally seen the last of the human, who had thankfully been fairly quiet for most of the trip through the Digital World – even if the only reason he kept silent was because of the knife at his throat. The Elecmon Gijinka was not happy to hear that not only had her Lord already found out about her attacking the nosy human earlier that week, and was even less pleased when he had assigned her as the human boy's "caretaker" as punishment – the lowest position in her Lord's services aside from menial tasks like cleaning.

This position required her to keep an eye on the prisoner at all times, or she would not only be forfeiting her place in the Citadel, but her life as well. In short, if she left the human alone for any reason, or any length of time – even should she fall asleep, she would be killed. Even worse, she wasn't allowed to harm the annoying prisoner in any way – not through any kindness towards the brat on the part of her Lord, but rather to further punish Shurikasa by making it impossible for her to release the frustrations that always seemed to appear when she was forced to be around the Tamer. The Elecmon shuddered as Hirokazu hit an especially sour note, which was doubly painful on her sensitive hearing.

Why, oh why had he been the target? Why couldn't there have been a _quiet_ idiot among the Tamers?

. . . Why hadn't she thought to get earplugs while in the human's world?

Shurikasa groaned, silently hoping that the human's friends were on their way with the Child – if they really took the entire eight days to get here, she would be insane long before their arrival. She whimpered at Hirokazu reached an impossibly painful note with the finale of his song, and decided that she did not really care if the human's friends arrived or not – all she wanted as of this moment in time, was to be blessed with temporary deafness.

"-_ooooou_! Hey, want to hear another one? I can think of a lot more!"

"_No! _No more! _Stop __**singing!**_"

"Well, in that case. . . Here's one of my _favorites_!"

"_Make it stop make it stop make it stop!"_

* * *

"This is stupid," Ruki proclaimed, kicking a rock and watching it roll away through narrowed eyes. The Tamers, Digimon, and Gijinka had stopped to rest for a while, having unanimously voted that they needed a break from all the walking. Many of them were frustrated; the twins were just exhausted. Imouku couldn't have cared less either way; his mind was on other things. Ruki, for her part, was both tired and frustrated. When no one replied to her statement, the redheaded Tamer continued, "We can't just keep wandering around, _hoping_ we'll find the place. If we keep this up we'll never find it at all, let alone with enough time to spare to figure out a plan." There were several groans and mumbles of agreement from other members of the group, but no one offered any alternative ideas.

Imouku twitched an ear in the direction of all the groans, but he mostly ignored the group, instead choosing to watch a spot halfway up a nearby rock formation that was large enough to be considered a miniature mountain. He had thought he had seen something move in that location a few minutes earlier. He had been watching for the last several minutes, ever since he first sensed motion, with no sign of anything happening; but for some reason he couldn't tear his eyes away from the immense rock formation. He was sure there was _something_ there; he could feel it – almost like he had with the Digital Gate. This feeling, however, was slightly different in a way he couldn't – and didn't want to – explain.

A few pebbles rolled down the slope, despite having no obvious cause. Imouku's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the spot they had been dislodged from, just a little below the place he had been watching so intently. Renamon also watched the spot, and the redhead Gijinka wondered if she felt the same thing he did, and almost asked her before he remembered that he was still angry with her. Then his attention was directed back to the rock formation, where more pebbles were dislodged and something let out a loud yell.

"_Uuuuwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"_

The scream drew everyone's attention as a tiny Dorimon barreled down the slope towards the group, running as fast as it was capable of. It was breathing harshly, nearly panting for breath, and once it tripped and fell head over heels for a few feet before righting itself and continuing on its high-speed path. The Baby II's eyes widened in shock and it nearly reversed directions when it saw the group of strangers it was heading straight towards. Then, for some strange reason, it launched itself at Imouku and attached itself to his leg, nuzzling it and making cooing sounds. No one looked more surprised at this odd development than the redhead himself. The Gijinka blinked and stared at the Baby II for a second in surprise, then tried to shake it off his leg, without success. It continued to cling to him with a tenacity that nearly matched his own.

"Hey, get off!" Imouku growled, trying a little harder to shake off his new attachment, shooting a glare at the amused group surrounding him. "This isn't funny!" No one bothered to disagree, despite the humor of the situation.

The Dorimon nuzzled his ankle again, making a sound oddly similar to a purr, and Imouku winced – he was getting annoyed with this creature and the humiliation it was causing, however inadvertently. "Get _off _of me!" The Baby II made another cooing noise and refused to budge, staring up at him with adoring brown eyes. The twins exchanged a glance and giggled at their partner, who stuck his tongue out at them and continued his efforts to separate his leg and the Dorimon without success. His movements vaguely resembled some odd, arrhythmic dance as he tried to dislodge the small creature. "Come – on – get – off – of –me!" The redhead reached down and grabbed the Dorimon, attempting to pull it off; he tugged furiously at it for several moments while it continued to stick to his leg like it had been born there. He was almost ready to give up and let it stay there until it decided to stop imitating a leech, when to his complete and utter surprise, it let go and let him lift it into the air, where he glared at it, nose to nose.

It blinked innocently at him for a moment, then wriggled furiously - not trying to get down, but definitely making a nonverbal complaint about the way the redhead was holding it.

Imouku nearly dropped the Baby II when the Dorimon suddenly shifted to a hybrid form.

The tiny Gijinka staring solemnly at him out of big, chocolate brown eyes was barely out of infancy, with light blue, extremely thick hair that desperately needed combing – his bangs, however, were white. His clothes were, like most young Gijinka's clothing, very simple; a matching shirt and pants in a metallic blue color – or at least, they appeared so beneath the unusually thick layer of dirt coating them. He also was sorely in need of a bath, and Imouku's eyes nearly crossed at the sudden stench of unwashed toddler. The two Gijinka blinked simultaneously, surprise showing clearly on both of their faces. Abruptly, a large grin spread over the toddler's face, and he reached up with a pudgy hand and pinched Imouku's nose closed. The redhead spluttered in indignation and immediately tried to free his nose from the toddler's grip, while the Dorimon Gijinka giggled in delight. The rest of the group was equally amused by the actions of the Gijinka, albeit confused by the sudden appearance of the toddler – he was clearly too young to be by himself, and yet he appeared to be completely alone.

Several minutes later, Imouku had gotten his nose free from the toddler's grip – although it was still rather sore and he resisted the urge to rub at it- and set the little one on his feet, but the small Gijinka nevertheless remained close to him, refusing to go anywhere near anyone else. The rest of the group gathered around the two Gijinka to examine the tiny newcomer. The Dorimon Gijinka hadn't spoken a single word to anyone, simply clinging to Imouku like he was an extra limb and staring at the Tamers staring at him. He seemed rather intimidated by everyone but the other Gijinka, and would occasionally try and hide himself behind Imouku's leg without success. As a result, the rest of the group stayed at somewhat of a distance so as not to scare him too severely – with one notable exception.

"Hey there, little guy," Takato said, smiling warmly as he knelt down and reached a hand out to the toddler, who watched him warily. "Where did you come from?" Imouku blinked as the Dorimon Gijinka let go of his leg just enough to lean forward and get a good look at the Gogglehead, who smiled a little wider upon receiving the toddler's attention. "It's okay; we're not going to hurt you," the human continued, letting his hand close the distance to the little one rather than the entirety of his body. The toddler blinked curiously at Takato's extended hand, and smiled back, sniffing the limb curiously. Of the group, only Imouku – and perhaps Renamon - had any idea of what was going to happen next. There were some things that just were not a good idea to do around a young Gijinka, and this was one of them. What Takato was doing was simply asking for trouble. Feeling an extremely tiny bit sorry for the oblivious human, Imouku offered up a halfhearted warning.

"Eh, Gogglehead – I wouldn't _do that_ . . ." Not that it really mattered to him one way or the other, really. The Gogglehead was probably just going to have to find out the hard way.

Takato blinked, "Why? He's just a little kid; what can he – _owwwww_!"

While he had looked away, the Dorimon Gijinka had latched onto his hand – with his teeth, which were much sharper than a human of the same age. The Gogglehead recoiled in an instant, clutching his wounded hand to his chest, as the little Gijinka let go, edging behind Imouku's leg again so as to try and get out of sight. The toddler proceeded to stick his fist in his mouth as far as he could and chew on it quite contentedly, while peering much more confidently at the people surrounding him. Takato, meanwhile, had backed away several feet and was staring at his throbbing – and in some places slightly bleeding- hand. "He _bit_ me!" The expression on his face sent Imouku into a fit of laughter that lasted for half a minute, laughter that was echoed by the toddler holding on to his leg in babyish giggles.

Finally ceasing his laughter, Imouku grinned and declared, "I _like _this kid!"

When Ruki rolled her eyes and muttered, "You would," the redheaded Gijinka made a face at her – which was copied by the toddler beside him. Ruki ignored it. "Where did he come from, anyway?" Everyone was mildly surprised when the toddler blinked and pointed a finger up the slope he had come down in an obvious attempt to answer the Tamer's question. The group looked where he was pointing, but didn't see anything unusual about the slope. It looked just like any of the other rock formations around the area, if admittedly just a bit larger. Apart from that, there was nothing about it that made it stand out in any way. Still, it was better than nothing; they at least had a direction to go in – a child so young could not possibly have gotten very far on his own, so there must be something relatively close by. After discussing it for a few minutes, the group agreed to head in the direction the toddler had pointed out.

Imouku, unable to walk with the toddler still firmly attached to his leg, shouted at the group as they started off, "Hey! What am I supposed to do?!?"

It was Renamon who answered him with no small amount of amusement in her voice. "He seems to like you; why don't you carry him?"

"_Whaaaaat?"_

"He's too small to climb back up by himself, and you're the only one he seems to feel safe with. Therefore, _you _will have to carry him," the faux Digimon replied, and although she was facing away from him, Imouku just _knew _that she was smirking at him. The redheaded Gijinka blew a raspberry at her, once again echoed by the toddler, and looked down at the watery brown eyes staring up at him. The toddler raised his arms in the air and made a grunting sound, "Un!" clearly wanting to be picked up. Imouku groaned,

"Great; I get stuck babysitting!" The Dorimon Gijinka just grunted again, staring up at the older Gijinka imploringly. Imouku rolled his eyes, and, glancing around quickly to make sure no one was staring at him, scooped the toddler up. "Fine, you get your way. Phew, ever heard of a bath, kiddo? You _stink_!" The Dorimon just grinned and planted a sloppy toddler kiss on his cheek. Imouku huffed. "Yeah, yeah; you're welcome."

* * *

Imouku was the last of the group to make it to the spot the Dorimon Gijinka had pointed to, hampered as he was by his rather smelly burden. By the time he had nearly made it there, the others had given up on hoping to find anything unusual about the place, and were staring at him expectantly. The redhead bit his tongue to keep from asking the others why they didn't just ask _Renamon _to investigate the area since she was Gijinka too – only ages old instructions from his mother, who had warned him to _never _reveal another's identity as Gijinka, even when faced with death, helped him to hold his tongue and continue climbing.

This did not, however, prevent him from otherwise complaining upon reaching the group.

"What are you standing around for – waiting on me? I'm _not_ a weird stuff detector, you know!" He grumbled, glaring at the group. The toddler in his arms blinked curiously, then echoed his glare with an angry pout that ruined the effect of the redhead's ire, due to the cuteness of the expression. Imouku's glare intensified as he heard the scattered snickers barely being stifled by the Tamers (as well as several of the Digimon), and he huffed in irritation. "Sure, laugh at me – we'll _see _who's laughing when you're all stuck out here and I'm somewhere else eating everything in sight!"

The moans and complaints of "Don't mention _food_!" that followed this statement, accompanied by growling stomachs, made the redhead's point.

"We're sorry, Im-chan!"

"Yeah, we're sorry! Don't leave us behind!"

Imouku grinned and used his free hand – the one that wasn't supporting the wide-eyed Dorimon Gijinka – and ruffled each of the twins' hair in turn.

"All right, you two can come too." The twins giggled and nodded simultaneously as their partner, still carrying the other Gijinka, started poking around and investigation the spot the toddler had initially pointed at – which was also the spot that Imouku had thought seemed rather odd earlier. He paused when the toddler started tugging furiously at his sleeve and making frantic whining sounds. The redhead blinked and turned his head just in time to avoid something that came flying past his ear and hit the ground behind him, where it shattered. The entire group, Tamers and Digimon included, was instantly on the defensive, ready for any attack that might come. Imouku ran over to his Tamers and positioned himself in front of them, as well as the toddler Dorimon, who he placed on the ground between Ai and Makoto. However, he couldn't resist shouting an angry, "Hey, _watch it_!" at the unseen attacker.

For a few moments, no one moved. They simply waited for the attacker to show. After what seemed like a small eternity to the tense and battle-ready group, a cautious Gazimon poked its nose through what appeared to be solid rock. It squinted and blinked twice, rather blearily, at the group, and sniffed the air experimentally before its jaw dropped and it ran straight towards the Gijinka. Imouku tensed, ready for a fight to protect himself and his Tamers (As well as the unexpected guest), but was caught by surprise when the Gazimon tripped over its own feet and fell flat on its face, calling out and endless litany of,

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry –" without showing any sign of stopping. It continued this until the Dorimon Gijinka walked over to it and kicked it in the head, which caused it to bolt straight up with a cry. "HEY! OUCH! What did you do tha-" It cut itself off in the middle of its sentence by sniffing, and then squinting at the scowling figure staring it in the eyes. "Haseo, did you sneak out through the barrier _again_? What will your parents think!"

A cough drew its attention to Imouku, and it squinted again, obviously trying to see him. Then it leapt into the air with a screech and tried to run, but only fell over again before it had taken two steps, tripped up by the fact that Imouku had grabbed the end of its tail as it jumped. It babbled incoherently and wailed, not bothering to get up from its position with its tail higher than its head. At least, until Imouku couldn't take it anymore and shouted,

"Quit it already! You're making me deaf!"

Unfortunately, this only increased the tone of the Gazimon's wails. The Dorimon Gijinka gave a sigh that shook his entire tiny body and kicked the Gazimon again, which stopped crying at last, and he handed it something he had picked up from the ground. The Gazimon cracked open one ruby red eye, and dove for the item clutched in the hands of the toddler. Seconds later, the Gazimon had shifted to a hybrid form, revealing it to be a female Gijinka with messy black hair that hung down a few inches past her shoulders, and settled a pair of glasses – that had a crack across one lens and was entirely missing the other lens – on the bridge of her nose. She moaned pitifully to herself,

"That's the third pair in a row! And these things are so hard to get, too. . ." before blinking and taking in the features of the humans, Digimon, and Gijinka surrounding her. Her eyes widened and she nearly fell over herself again in an attempt to back away. "Aaaah, I'm sorry don't hurt me I didn't mean to throw my glasses at you – I'm just so clumsy they fly of my face all the time don't hurt me please and –" She stopped, cut off by Takato, who was smiling at her and offering her a hand to get back to her feet.

"Hey, it's alright. We're not going to hurt you."

She blinked and exclaimed, "But _everyone _wants to hurt Gijinka!"

The Gogglehead, blinked, confused. "Why would we want to hurt you? You haven't done anything."

Imouku, from where he was standing, rolled his eyes. Sometimes he forgot the Gogglehead was so naïve. The redheaded Gijinka grumbled and walked over to intervene before Takato made things even more confusing – not that he really _cared_ about the strange Gijinka's problems; it was just that they were in a hurry and he could tell she would just keep rambling on and on until someone shut her up. With this in mind, the redhead folded his arms in an impatient manner and interjected,

"Forget it Gogglehead, you won't get anything that makes sense out of _her._" A mumble of protest came out of the Gazimon Gijinka's mouth, but Imouku ignored her. "You can waste your time listening to her babble the rest of the day if you want, but you still won't get anything useful out of her if that's what you're trying. I'm not sticking around for it!" Having made his point, Imouku went back to his Tamers, who obediently grabbed his hands and started walking towards the place the Gazimon had come out of. He was just about to see if there was really anything solid about the spot in the rocks from this side when the Gazimon Gijinka darted over in front of him and squinted at him through her broken glasses.

"W-w-wait," she blurted out, peering into Imouku's face from an uncomfortably close distance. She reached out with the obvious intent to touch him, and the redhead leapt back and away from her with a strangled shout and a glare that could kill. He did _not _want or need her touching him, and he readied a Night of Fire attack in case she didn't get the message. Oddly enough, the Gazimon didn't even seem to notice, instead backing up a little, exclaiming, "Oh!" Her eyes widened and she started spluttering. "O-Oh; y-you're – oh, wow – oh, you – I – I ha – I have to – " A kick in the ankle from Haseo straightened her out, and she took a deep breath, continuing, "You have to come with me, all of you! If the scouts from the Citadel see you . . ." She shook her head. "Come on, hurry – the Combat Master will wish to see you all."

None of the group, save Ruki, noticed Renamon jump a tiny amount upon hearing the words "Combat Master."

* * *

The village of Gijinka that lay behind the barrier – if, indeed, one could call it a village- was clean and neat, but had a ramshackle look about it, as if the houses and other buildings had all been thrown together in a hurry. As the group entered the village, most of the inhabitants scattered and retreated to their homes, where they remained, peeking timidly at the strangers from their relatively safe position. The Tamers and their partners couldn't help but stare at their surroundings; even Imouku – he had never had the chance to see so many other Gijinka, having spent most of his time either alone or on the run with his family. His Tamers clung to his hands and stayed close to him; awed and somewhat frightened at the sight before them. The Dorimon Gijinka, Haseo, had continued to stick close to Imouku as well, occasionally pointing at various places and making a grunting noise to draw the redhead's attention to them – his version of a tour, perhaps.

A curious thing that all of the Tamers noticed was that the Gijinka were nearly all Virus and Data types. Only on very few occasions was there a Vaccine type to be found, and he majority of those were Vaccines with the potential to become Virus or Data types in one of their more advanced forms. The twins tugged on Imouku's hands and asked him about this strange fact, but he just shrugged and admitted that he didn't know, it had just always been that way. This caused the redhead to think for a moment, as he belatedly realized how little he knew about his own people. Admittedly he had spent most of his life without contact with them, but still, it seemed like an unforgivable fault to be so ignorant of the most basic understanding of his species. He didn't let his mind dwell on it, however, and was soon distracted by the events taking place around him.

A young-looking Shaomon Gijinka, a bit older than Haseo in appearance, darted out in front of the group from where she had been playing with some other Baby II Gijinka; she apparently hadn't noticed the group prior to this, and stood in front of them, frozen in terror, until a much older TobuCatmon Gijinka ran out of a building, scooped her up and ran back inside, shooting a fearful look at the Tamers as she slammed the door behind her.

"Why are they so frightened of us?" Takato spoke up from his position near the front of the group, his expression confused. "We haven't done anything, and we . . . . well, we don't look all that scary, do we?" The Gogglehead glanced around, never managing to make eye contact with any of the Gijinka, who always ducked out of sight when his eyes turned in their direction. He turned to Imouku, his eyes questioning. "Do you know why?"

Imouku shrugged and rolled his eyes, "Think about it, Gogglehead. It's not complicated – even _you _should be able to figure it out!" Takato protested that but quickly dropped into thought, trying to understand what was going on. He spent the remainder of the walk through the Gijinka village trying to puzzle out what was going on – much to the amusement of Imouku, who was making mental bets with himself about just how long it would take the Tamer to come to a conclusion, and whether or not that conclusion would even be correct. Thus he was reasonably entertained for the rest of the walk, and was able to divert his mind away from what he really should have been thinking about: what, exactly was happening and just how the group was supposed to get Hirokazu back.

After about ten minutes of walking, the Gazimon Gijinka – whom had introduced herself as Kiokure, with much stuttering – led the small procession to a building that startlingly resembled a large dojo. They hadn't even made it to the entrance before a blurry form raced towards the group and singled out Renamon, attacking in a whirl of limbs that was impossible for the ordinary eye to follow. Anyone caught off their guard by such an attack would have been knocked out (or worse) nearly instantly; Renamon, however, was prepared and leapt away from the attacking figure as well as the rest of the group, landing in a defensive stance a safe distance away from everyone else.

As one, the group tensed, with the exception of the Gijinka and, surprisingly, Ruki. For his part, Imouku honestly wasn't worried about the faux Digimon – she could handle herself. He was, however, trying to convince himself that if she _did _get hurt, he still wouldn't care either way. He wasn't succeeding. As for Ruki, the redheaded Tamer watched the fight without any sign of wanting to interfere on the behalf of her partner. In fact, she appeared quite relaxed about the whole situation, despite the fact that her eyes remained riveted on the events unfolding in front of her. She only tensed when a hit broke through Renamon's guard, which wasn't all that often and usually happened too quickly for anyone to notice anyway. Jenrya and Takato didn't understand why she was just watching the fight, and asked her why she wasn't trying to help. Ruki shrugged and answered,

"This is Renamon's fight. If I got involved it would only cause her problems."

"But what if she gets hurt?" Jenrya asked, concerned. Takato echoed him with a nod, and they both turned questioning looks to Ruki. Terriermon's Tamer continued, "This isn't like a normal fight – that's hand-to-hand combat; I'm not sure of the style but I know martial arts when I see them. How can she hold her own against that?" The worry in his voice was genuine, and Ruki would probably have answered his question, had someone else not spoken up before she could open her mouth to reply.

"Oh, foxface can do more than hold her own," Imouku broke in with a scoff, his eyes never leaving the fight that was taking place. "Believe me. Besides, it's not a real fight anyway – it's just a game." He winced as a particularly powerful blow managed to get past Renamon's guard and threw her back a few feet. She recovered quickly, however, and the battle resumed, with only a few blows getting past either combatant's guard. Finally, after the battle had lasted upwards of fifteen minutes, the two opponents broke apart, breathing harshly with exertion. Renamon's attacker was now plainly visible, and seemed to be a Shaujinmon Gijinka; he wore a smile on his face as he bowed in respect to her.

"You have improved since last we faced each other, Reisei Takeo-Himeki. Well fought, my friend."

No Tamer, save Ruki, managed to keep their jaw from dropping as Renamon, with barely a glance at the rest of group, calmly shifted into her own hybrid form and bowed in return.

"Thank you for your kindness, Combat Master Garundo. It has been a long time since we've last met."

Oddly enough, it was Terriermon who summed up most of the group's feelings at that moment.

"_What? She's a Gijinka __**too?**__"_

* * *

"Milord," said the shadowed figure as they knelt before the lord of the Citadel. There was no way to tell the species of the Gijinka reporting, as the darkness in the throne room was nearly total. "The Child has entered the new Refuge and is meeting with the Combat Master at this moment. He does not appear to have any knowledge of his own people beyond the most basic of understanding. It is also a fact, rather than a rumor, that he has not only been living in the human world, but has also formed a strong attachment to two of them." The figure winced as a low growl of displeasure emanated from the Gijinka on the massive black throne. "B-but he doesn't seem to have as strong of an attachment to any of the others, and it's possible that he could still be-"

"_Silence_," the lord growled, and the trembling figure fell silent immediately. "The Child is foolish to throw in his lot with the humans; he has not yet been forced to realize that his people are the only ones he can trust. The humans will betray him sooner or later, and he will come to accept his role in the undertaking."

"B-but milord – w-what if the h-humans don't-" The figure let out a squeak of terror and tilted its head downward, hiding its face within the folds of its long dark hair as the lord stood from his throne and walked over to where it knelt. Nothing good occurred when the lord left his throne to come to you, it had learned so from painful experience some time before. It trembled in fear as he rested his hand on its head, and even more so when he lifted its chin to look into its terrified crimson eyes. When he smiled, it nearly fainted from fear.

"Now, my dear, you don't really want to finish that sentence, now do you?" It shook its head rapidly, and flinched as his hand dropped to its right collarbone, tracing a line just above the location of the bone itself. "I see you still remember what happened the last time you withheld information from me. Tell me," he purred. "Is the scar still there?" It said nothing; its lord expected no answer. They both knew that the scar was there; as bright and large as if it had only been inflicted a month before, when in fact over a year had passed since the injury itself. "The humans _will_ betray the Child; it is in their nature, as they are not Gijinka."

Then he paused, and appeared to think for a moment. "However, if they delay their betrayal for too long, I do believe it would be wise to. . . .hasten the action. Return to the Refuge, Spy. Observe the child, and do everything in your power to make him realize that the humans are not trustworthy."

"Y-yes, milord." The figure nodded, and breathed a sigh of relief as its lord returned to his throne.

"You may go," the lord stated, and the figure bowed hurriedly and scurried away, thankful to be leaving in one piece this time.

* * *

It was the next morning before the Tamers were able to speak to Combat Master Garundo; he had correctly assumed that they were tired, frustrated, and in no condition to do much of anything, and had showed them to a few rooms within his property – which turned out to be a large training complex with nearly one hundred Gijinka in residence- to rest. The toddler Gijinka, Haseo, had wandered off during Reisei's fight, presumably returning to his parents; none of the Tamers and their partners knew for certain. Very few of them noticed the way his eyes narrowed when he saw Imouku – the redhead in question was not among them-, and only one of those saw the concern and even the mild amount of worry in his guarded eyes as he looked at the redhead – and Reisei, who had remained in her hybrid form since shifting following her spar, vowed to speak with the Combat Master about that concern as soon as possible.

As for the redhead himself, he had been too focused on the thought of his next meal to notice anything unusual at all.

When the group met with the Combat Master the next day – after breakfast, at the insistence of a certain redhead - he gave no sign of even noticing Imouku among them, barely giving him a glance out of the corner of his eye. Instead, he led the group of the through his dojo, where several Gijinka of varying species were practicing and sparring, and continued outside to an area with large flat rocks arranged in a circle, that he asked them all to take seats upon.

Most of the group complied, but Imouku was in contrary mood, and resisted the twins' efforts to pull him into a seated position between them.

"Im-chan, please sit!"

"Please, Im-chan!"

He shook his head, "Nah; I don't want to."

"Im-_chan_," the twins pleaded, and would have continued to do so had the Shaujinmon Gijinka not chuckled and waved away Imouku's rudeness, saying,

"Let him stand if he wishes; you won't get _that_ one to listen to you – he's every bit as stubborn as his mother." This comment had the effect that the twins' pleading had not – Imouku sat down immediately, his face displaying his shock. He blinked a few times and opened his mouth, but was unable to speak. The Combat Master chuckled again and said, "Don't worry, young one, we will speak of such things in their time." His expression turned grave as he continued, "Now, what is it that brings you to the Refuge; for I can see by your faces that you are here for a purpose - one that has many of your hearts anxious."

"A friend of ours was taken captive," Jenrya spoke up. "He's being held at some place called the Citadel, and we only have a week left to get him out of there."

The Combat Master gave a resigned sigh and closed his eyes. "The Enraged Ones have expanded their operations into the human world already . . . it seems that we have less time than I had hoped." He opened his eyes again, and they flashed a bright, glowing red for a moment before fading into a more human-like crimson. "Tell me, what do you know of the Citadel of the Forsaken?"

It was Ruki who answered, "The Gijinka who took our friend said to come to a place called the Citadel; I'm guessing that's the same as the place you just mentioned?" The Shaujinmon Gijinka nodded, and the Tamer continued, "We don't know anything else about it – we never even heard of it before then." Her eyes narrowed as she thought for a moment, before saying in a somewhat annoyed tone of voice, "I don't suppose you'd care to tell us what exactly is going on? You seem to know a lot about what's happening while we don't know anything, and I, for one, don't like being kept in the dark."

The Combat Master thought before a moment, before he nodded and began to speak, saying, "You do need to know what is happening, since the human world and the Digital World are both threatened by the Citadel."

"Right," Takato broke in, asking, "So where _is _this Citadel place, anyway? And how do we find it?"

The Combat Master closed his eyes for a long moment, and then began speaking.

"The Citadel is impossible to find unless you already know where it is, and is inaccessible to anyone trying to enter who is not in the company of a Gijinka. It exists in a separate plane unto itself, unlike the Refuge, which is merely masked from sight. If you go there, and I'm certain you will if it's necessary to save your friend, you _must _remember this: the plane the Citadel rests in, while admittedly very small in comparison to the other planes of the Digital World, can be very deadly to those who are not aware of its secrets." He watched the group's eyes widen collectively, and nodded grimly before continuing. "You see, the plane is unique in that it follows the will of the Citadel's master, and is directly tied to his state of mind. The landscape of the plane, even the very color of the sky is subject to his will – the only thing he cannot change, of course, is the sphere in the sky that represents your world. You must keep this in mind, for if you – _any _of you – manage to anger him, the entire plane will threaten your lives."

When the Shaujinmon Gijinka paused a moment for breath, Jenrya broke in with a question.

"If the plane itself is so dangerous, what about the Citadel?"

Imouku, still seated between the twins, was barely following the conversation. His mind was focused on what the other Gijinka had said about his mother. He didn't remember ever meeting this "Combat Master" Gijinka, but then, he didn't really remember anyone other than his parents - and more particularly his mother. He could barely recall his father; he wasn't even sure of what he had looked like. This thought caused his mind to drift, as he started wondering – why was he only dreaming about his mother? His father had been in one of the dreams, that was true, but by far the focus of his dreams was his mother. If the one who had locked him – probably the master of the Citadel place, from what he _had_ managed to hear and comprehend – was giving him these memories, why just revive his memories of his mother? Why not both of his parents? Surely any memories containing his father would be as painful and difficult to remember as those with his mother, so why go to the trouble to leave him out? Try as he might, the redhead simply could not wrap his mind around it, despite the feeling he had that this was a very important detail in his attempts to figure out what was going on.

His thoughts continued in this manner, preventing him from focusing on Combat Master Garundo's answer to Jenrya's question.

"The Citadel . . . is not subject to the same rules as the plane it exists within. It has remained unchanged ever since it was first constructed. While it is the stronghold of the enraged Gijinka – for that is really all the ones you are facing are; Gijinka who have given into their rage, frustration and sorrow and desire revenge rather than peace – it is arguably much safer than the surrounding plane." He read a look on Jenrya's face and continued immediately, reading the question in his and the other Tamers' eyes. "Of the Citadel's Master, there truly isn't much that I can tell you, save that he is an Ultimate of great power . . . and greater madness. He is a twisted shell who desires the destruction of all races outside Gijinka, and even Gijinka themselves if they wish for peace. We of the Refuge have been preparing to strike against him, but did not expect the Citadel to be combat ready so soon, and I fear we will not be able to halt the mad quest for vengeance from overtaking the two worlds.

Everyone in the group turned their eyes to Takato as he stood up and declared, "We'll stop them!" The Gogglehead's eyes showed nothing but determination as he continued, "This guy is nothing compared to the D-Reaper; I'm sure we'll be able to beat him, and stop whatever plans he has before he hurts anyone else! Won't we, everyone?" He turned and looked around at the group, and smiled at the various nods and statements of agreement – apart from Imouku, who still had his mind occupied by other things. Takato blushed and looked embarrassed, however, as the Combat Master began to chuckle, and then applaud.

"Bravo, young human. Your confidence is inspiring. I do believe that, with your help, victory may be possible after all. Simple be aware of what awaits you once you enter the plane of the Citadel – nothing is certain save the Citadel itself. Always be on your guard; never let it drop for even a single instant if you value your lives." He paused, then continued, "I am afraid that, although I know the location of the Citadel, I am unable to guide you to its resting place – the Citadel is planning to attack this small Refuge and I can not afford to abandon my people to death at the hands of their brothers."

"But how will we find this place? We don't even know where to start looking," Ruki complained, eyes narrowed. Reisei frowned slightly at her Tamer's impatience, although she did understand her frustration.

"Ruki…" The redheaded Tamer just shrugged off the mild reprimand and raised an eyebrow expectantly at the Shaujinmon Gijinka, who chuckled again.

"My, my, Reisei; if this is your human partner I can certainly see why – she is very much like you were before you started training under me all that time ago."

Ruki shot her partner a surprised look, but the Renamon Gijinka remained as tranquil as ever – although the Tamer later swore she had seen Reisei's left eyebrow _twitch_ just a little. The Combat Master, with an eye on Ruki as he spoke, continued, "I will, of course, be sending a guide with you. You remember Kiokure, the Gazimon Gijinka you all met yesterday?" He watched for their acknowledging nods, and spoke again, "While she is not the ideal companion for this journey, she is, regrettably, the only one with knowledge of the citadel and its plane that I can spare to send with you. If you can deal with her . . . odd mannerisms, she will be of great aid to you. But now," he paused, "I seem to have talked the morning away, and I presume that you all are hungry." More than a few faces nodded and two or three stomachs growled in chorus – one of which was Imouku's-, causing much embarrassment. The Shaujinmon Gijinka smiled and waved them off.

"Go on, then. There are meals waiting for you in your rooms. Take all the time you need to prepare for your journey; there's no point in leaving until tomorrow morning anyway, as the journey will only take two days at the most." As the group nodded and got up to leave, breaking off into smaller clusters of twos and threes, the Combat Master made a quick signal with his right hand, one that no one noticed save the one whose eyes it was for. Imouku stood up and stretched, scratching idly at an ear as he followed his Tamers away from the circle of stones, not noticing the way the Shaujinmon Gijinka's eyes followed him the entire time.

Reisei caught the hand signal out of the corner of her eye and paused. She turned to her Tamer, and spoke to Ruki in a low voice, saying, "You go back to the room and eat, Ruki. I have a few things to discuss with the Combat Master. I will join you shortly." The redheaded Tamer raised an eyebrow, but nodded. If her partner needed to stay behind, she had a good reason, and there was no sense in keeping her from what might be an important discussion of some sort. Ruki did, however, remind herself to ask her partner about the event later if there was anything she needed to know.

A short time passed, and soon Reisei and the Combat Master were the only ones in the clearing. She bowed politely to him, and asked in a quiet tone, "You wished to speak with me, Combat Master?"

He nodded, his face grave. "Are you aware of the events surrounding the Impmon Gijinka you are traveling with?"

Reisei shook her head, her eyes narrowed as she answered, "No, I'm not. Is there something to be concerned about?"

The Shaujinmon sighed and passed a hand over his suddenly very worn-looking face. "That child is in a great deal more danger than any of the rest of us, Reisei. Am I correct in assuming that he has been locked away from his third form?" She nodded, and he sighed, continuing. "Then it is far worse than I had feared. Reisei," he barked in a far more commanding tone of voice. "Do you remember what happens to a Gijinka that has one or more of its forms sealed away?"

Her eyes darkened, and her head and ears drooped. "Yes, Combat Master. I do," she sighed, sadly. "They become mentally unstable and disoriented, and will eventually go completely insane." Then she straightened and looked the Shaujinmon in the eyes, her own like blocks of ice as she stated, "I have been watching him closely from the moment he was sealed; he hasn't shown any signs of deterioration yet." This caused him to close his eyes in relief, until she continued. "However, he has been having headaches for reasons I can't explain – they began several days before he was sealed and have continued intermittently ever since."

"Has he been having nightmares, or waking dreams?"

Reisei nodded. "He has – I watched him once when he fell asleep on the roof, and he has been having waking dreams at least since we entered the Digital World, and probably for some time before that. These are . . . significant?" She asked, in a mildly bewildered tone. Combat Master Garundo nodded, his face grave.

"They are a sign that the Master of the Citadel has already begun manipulating him, twisting his mind to meet his own desires. Reisei Takeo-Himeki," he growled out, "I hereby request of you to do _everything_ in your power to keep Imouku Youkano-Anikana safe, and prevent him from entering the Citadel of the Forsaken at any cost. If they get their hands on that Child . . . then all hope for his mind will be lost. Better for him to die than to lose his sanity in such a manner as I fear." Reisei bowed in acquiescence, her eyes displaying her fear openly, as her guard was dropped completely by both the suddenness of the request, and the seriousness of her friend's – for she still considered him a friend, regardless of his opinion of her at the moment - predicament. If it had the Combat Master worried enough that he would ask her, albeit subtly, to _kill_ Imouku if necessary, then it was undoubtedly a far more serious situation that she had believed until now.

"I shall protect him with all of the power at my disposal, Combat Master. I _swear it._"

The Combat Master smiled, and replied, "I am certain you will, Reisei. Succeed in this task, and you will have proven yourself at last worthy of the title of Combat Mistress." He chuckled as her eyes widened slightly from surprise, and continued, "Go back to your human partner, Reisei. I believe she's expecting you – and I think her friends might have some questions for you, judging by the way they looked at you last night."

Reisei nodded, and walked off.

The Combat Master, alone at last, sighed tiredly and slumped with his head in his hands. It was all happening too quickly, far too quickly. Things were spiraling out of control much sooner than he had anticipated, and if he could not manage to keep up, then the Gijinka would be facing the worst disaster to befall them since the likes of Kuuhei Hirota-Serano walked the planes of the Digital World. He passed a calloused hand over his eyes, trying to burn away the image that had appeared before them, and whispered quietly, "I hope to all that is good in the two Worlds that I have not just sent even more of my people to their death, and one still so very young . . . But if the Master of the Citadel is truly who I believe him to be, and he managed to take that Child for his side, then Anikana would never forgive me for failing her and her son."

Across the village grounds, a certain redheaded Gijinka merrily stuffed his face while listening to the twins chatter about all of the interesting things that they had seen thus far, his mind for the moment totally, blessedly untroubled by all that was occurring around him.

**-TBC-**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Yup, this story is still in progress. I'm sorry it's taking me so long between chapters, but real life tends to get in the way more than I would like. The next chapter is when things _really_ kick off, but this one has important information in it as well. It's a little shorter than the last chapter, but fortunately not by much. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please review - I'll be terribly sad if this story gets to be over 100,000 words long and still has less than 50 reviews. I don't normally beg, but that's just. . . . kind of sad. :(

**Disclaimer: **Anything recognizable from Digimon is the property of Toei Animation, Ltd. Anything not.. . well, that's mine, such as it is. The concept of Gijinka Digimon used within this story is definitely mine - ask me if you want to use it, okay? I'd be extremely flattered! :D Now, on with the story!

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The Last of the Gijinka

**Chapter Eight**

"_What are you doing, little one?" The amusement in his mother's voice as she came up behind him made the small redhead's giggles increase, and he didn't even pause his current actions. The thought of getting in trouble never once crossed his young mind, as his father snored from underneath him, peacefully oblivious to the havoc the toddler was wreaking on his appearance. Where the small child had gotten his tools was hard to tell, but he was happily expressing his artistic skills all over his father's face. A repeat of his mother's question made Imouku giggle again, and the toddler declared,_

"_D'awin' on Papa!" Then he frowned, and placed a finger to his lips, continuing, "Ssh Mama; Papa's s'eepin'!"_

_Unbeknownst to the toddler, his father was in fact, not asleep, and was watching him through half closed eyes. When the toddler turned back to his father to continue his work, the Sangloupmon Gijinka once again had his eyes closed and was making fake snores. Imouku stuck the middle fingers of his left hand into his mouth as he focused on his father's face, fully intent on making a large purple spot on the tip of his fathers nose, only to shriek and start giggling uncontrollably as his father's eyes opened and he grabbed him, tickling the toddler furiously. "Stoppit Papa," the Yaamon Gijinka barely managed to get out between giggles. "I' ti'les!"_

_  
"Oh, does it now? Well, then, I guess I have to…. Tickle you some more!" With that, his father proceeded to up the frequency of the tickling, causing the toddler to squirm furiously as he tried to get away. This continued for a few minutes, only stopping when Imouku finally escaped and ran to his mother for "protection", peeking around her skirt and blowing a raspberry at his laughing father. His mother, too, was giggling; her hand over her mouth as she stared at what the toddler had done to his father's face._

"_Youkano…. Dearest," his mother giggled, "Why did you let him do that to you?" The Sangloupmon Gijinka's face was nearly entirely covered in purple markings, ranging from simple squiggles to childish attempts at basic shapes and spirals, and even a smear of color across his upper lip that bore a strange resemblance to a mustache. Neither did his eyelids escape: they were solid purple, the color continuing all the way up to his eyebrows. Only his nose had escaped, the lone part of his face that still appeared vaguely normal – which, of course, made it stand out all the more. Imouku was quite proud of his handiwork, and his giggles had yet to die down – as did his mother's._

_His father grinned and scratched behind one ear as he answered, "He was enjoying himself, Ani'! I'm not about the ruin my only son's fun, after all." For some reason, this sent his mother into even more hysterical giggles, and it was several minutes before she managed to compose herself enough to reply,_

"_Even though those markings on your face won't wash off for a few weeks? And you have a meeting with the Council today?" The look of panic on his father's face sent his mother into peals of laughter once again, while Imouku blinked and tried to figure out just why his Papa looked so scared and his Mama was laughing. Finally, after a few moments the Black Tailmon Gijinka stifled her laughter and asked, "Would you like me to go in your place today, dearest?" The Sangloupmon Gijinka shook his head, a grave look settling over his features that was completely ruined by his son's handiwork._

"_No, Ani, it would be better for you not to go to this meeting. The things we'll be discussing, well . . . They won't be pleasant, Ani. It's . . . not something you'd want to hear."_

"_It's your brother again, isn't it? Just like the last three meetings you've insisted I not go to," his mother said, her body tensing as she clenched her fists tightly at her sides. Imouku reached up and grabbed her left hand in both of his small ones; he knew his mother was upset and while he didn't entirely understand why, he wanted her to be happy and tried his best to comfort her. She smiled down at him – a thin, tight-lipped smile that didn't reach her eyes, before her gaze snapped back to his father in an almost accusing manner. "It is, isn't it?" She pressed, and Imouku watched with wide eyes as his father dropped his head into his hands and let out a low moan of frustration._

"_He's gone completely _mad_, Ani; completely! He's so obsessed with your and our son that I fear what would happen were he to see you; even when I see him, I barely recognize him," he paused, breathing out a sigh, then continued. "The Council . . . the meeting today is about whether or not to call for his _execution_ – they're worried that he's going to bring an attack down upon us all, maybe even try to get the _Sovereigns _involved; the _Sovereigns_, Ani! If they were angered . . ." When he looked up, the horror in his eyes was noticeable even to Imouku, who left his mother's side and threw himself at his father, wrapping his arms around his legs in a hug._

"_Don' b' sca'd Papa! I p'tec' you!" His father chuckled and placed a hand on top of his head, replying,_

"_I'm sure you will, Imouku," he said. Then his tone turned serious as he spoke again, saying, "I – I'm starting to agree with them, Ani. I'm beginning to think that my brother should be _killed_, and that just seems so wrong – but he's endangering us all, and he needs to be . . . stopped, for all our sakes." Imouku, still clinging to his father's legs, heard the deadly seriousness in his tone and, recognizing it as the one his father used when he was in trouble, glanced up, and blinked in confusion at the tears he saw just about to fall from his father's green eyes. _

"_As a member of the High Council, I am obligated to protect my people and my family. It's just . . . He's my brother, Ani. My twin brother! How can I just stand back and let them kill him? . . . But, then again, how could I stand by and let him bring ruin down upon us all?"_

_Imouku watched as his mother walked over and embraced his father, tears dripping down her cheeks. Her face looked the saddest he had ever seen her, and it frightened him to see his parents like this. He clutched at his father's legs, on the verge of crying himself simply because his parents were so upset. The last thing he heard before he lost himself to the tears caused by his parents' upset was his mother saying in a quiet, resigned tone of voice,_

"_Youkano, he's . . . that's not your brother anymore. You know as well as I do that the brother you knew died the day I chose you instead of him."_

* * *

It was in the middle of the night, late after the Tamers and their partners had gone to sleep for the evening, when Imouku awoke from his dream and started wandering around, unable to fall back asleep. He didn't know exactly how long he walked, lost in thought as he was, but he realized after awhile that he was on the very edge of the village – on the other side from where the group had entered it that morning. Tall cliffs surrounded him on three sides, giving the impression that the village was in a canyon (something he hadn't noticed earlier, his mind too focused on other things.) Even with this realization, he probably would have simply kept walking in random directions – perhaps even leaving the village, had he not, out of the corner of his eye, spotted the Combat Master on a cliff edge overlooking him.

The Shaujinmon Gijinka looked straight at him; the two Gijinka locked eyes for a split second, before the Combat Master took off up the nearly vertical cliff face, jumping between the various ledges with ease. Imouku didn't know why, but for some reason he scrambled up the cliff as well – albeit with far less grace and far more difficulty -, all his worries and thoughts thrown aside in his attempts to catch up to the older Gijinka. If he were asked at a later date, all he would have been able to say was that, for some reason, it was incredibly important that he follow this Gijinka to wherever he was going and speak with him. What about, he didn't know.

"H-hey! Wait," the redhead called out somewhat desperately as he made it to a ledge about a quarter of the way up the cliff above him; the Shaujinmon Gijinka gave no sign that he had heard Imouku's shout, and in fact seemed to pick up speed a little, forcing the Child to do the same. It was a brutal pace, and try as he might Imouku could not catch up to the older Gijinka. It didn't help that it was nighttime – despite the fact that he had good eyesight and he knew it, he still slipped a few times and nearly fell. By the time the redhead was halfway up the cliff, the other Gijinka was already out of sight over the top. Imouku knew that by the time he got up there, chances were that the Combat Master would have already left.

Still, for reasons unknown to him, Imouku pressed on.

When he arrived at the top of the cliff, he collapsed to his knees. He sat there for several moments, panting from the exertion of the climb and far too focused on catching his breath to bother looking up to see if the other Gijinka was even still there. At this point he really wasn't certain that he would mind if the Combat Master really had gone; he was more interested in catching his breath than talking right now, anyway. Some minutes after he collapsed, a hand that appeared in front of his face – the Shaujinmon Gijinka was offering to help him stand up. Imouku looked up then, and scowled at the smiling Combat Master, refusing his hand and getting up on his own. To his surprise, the Shaujinmon Gijinka wasn't offended at all; instead he laughed and took his hand away, saying,

"Your mother's child, you are – but I see a lot of your father in you as well." His words were kind, but Imouku was still bothered by them for some reason he was unable to explain.

"You said something like that before," Imouku replied, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Did you know them or something?"

The Combat Master smiled as he replied,

"Yes, I did. I was on the High Council with your father." Upon seeing Imouku's blank, confused look, he sighed and continued, "You don't remember very much . . . about your parents, do you?" Imouku scowled again and looked away, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to say anything to either confirm or deny the Shaujinmon Gijinka's suspicions. A few minutes passed in silence, before the redhead gave a huff of frustration and kicked hard at a small rock that was lying near his feet. He watched idly as it sailed over the edge of the cliff and into the village, going straight through the open window of one of the closest houses. The sound of something breaking with a clatter and the resulting shout of the house's occupants carried clearly to where the two Gijinka were standing, and Imouku flushed with embarrassment, scratching the back of his neck and trying to look nonchalant.

"…. Eheheh… whoops?" He shot a fearful glance at the other Gijinka, wondering what he would do if the Perfect were angry with him for damaging someone's things. Fortunately, he was spared the attempt at figuring such a thing out, because Combat Master Garundo was fighting back amused laughter. Feeling miffed that he was apparently the evening's entertainment for the older Gijinka, Imouku stuck his tongue out at the other and sulked. This only served to make the Perfect start laughing softly as he said,

"I'm beginning to think I was wrong – you are almost identical to your father at your age; he did the same thing on more than one occasion." This comment only served to remind Imouku of why he was annoyed in the first place, and he started to walk away, fully intent on going back to the twins and sleeping the rest of the night – never mind the fact that he knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep without dreaming again, or worse, not even sleep at all. He was almost at the edge of the cliff when Combat Master Garundo's voice reached him, halting him in his tracks and causing him to turn around and stare with wide, and unknown to him, hopeful eyes.

"Would you like me to tell you what I remember about your parents, Imouku?"

Imouku found himself nodding before he even really registered the question.

* * *

When Shurikasa was finally summoned from her position as the human's caretaker, she was so pleased to get away from the brat that she forgot to question the messenger about the lord's mood – a seemingly trivial question that could mean the difference between life and death for the summoned. The Elecmon Gijinka was rapidly beginning to regret her oversight. She crouched, trembling, in a corner of the Citadel's grand library, her eyes never leaving those of the large, shattered statue lying next to her in a pile of broken wood and ruined books; the same statue that had been hurled at her head a few minutes before upon her entrance into the library.

The Lord of the Citadel was not in a good mood.

Fortunately for the terrified Child, he appeared to have forgotten her presence entirely – and hopefully would continue to ignore her as long as she stayed still and silent. Then again, as loud as he was ranting it was quite possible he wouldn't head her even if she tried to make her escape just then. Not that she was willing to try. She simply watched with wide eyes, prepared to bolt at the first opportunity, while her lord stalked back and forth in front of the large painting that had been in the library of the Citadel for as long as Shurikasa could remember.

". . . He's seeing too much, too soon! At this rate he'll know everything before he's supposed to and I'll lose the only chance I have at getting him _back _because he'll still side with those stupid . . . inferior . . . _humans_!" Shurikasa's eyes widened and she flinched as her lord slammed his fist into a nearby bookcase – going through the wood and more than a few of the books as he growled out an inarticulate snarl of rage. From her place in the corner, the Elecmon could clearly see the madness burning in her leader's emerald eyes as he stared at the painted figure that smiled gently, her golden eyes fixed upon the excited, redheaded baby that she held in her arms.

With a fondness in his eyes that was completely tainted by the madness of his expression, the Lord of the Citadel stroked the cheek of the painting as he continued, "I lost you, long ago, then I lost both of you. But I didn't really lose him, did I? Not like I lost you – he was there, always there just out of my grasp. But now I nearly have him again – I'll never have you again, but I'll have him and he's a part of you so it will be like having you here, won't it, love?" His eyes softened further as the madness seemed to recede a bit from him, and he spoke again in little more than a whisper. "Then . . . then once I have him again, it will be like it always should have been. Only this time . . . this time he'll be safe - Safe from those who can never understand, who can only harm . . . your memory will be safe, Anikana. This I promise you."

Shurikasa listened closely, this being the first time she had _ever_ heard the name of the lady Gijinka in the painting, and kept her focus entirely on the Lord of the Citadel, her entire body tense with the anticipated attack. So focused was she that she let out an involuntary squeak and stepped backwards as he suddenly whirled to face her, his long hair swinging in an arc behind him. The green eyes narrowed and a low growl issued from his throat, the only warning the Elecmon Gijinka had before she was flung up against the wall, frantically grappling to free her airway from the grip the Ultimate had upon it.

"_What _are you doing in here?!" Shurikasa could only make inarticulate gasping noises as she tried desperately to get air into her lungs. She was seeing stars and on the verge of unconsciousness when the anger faded from her lord's face and he let go of her throat. The scout fell limply to the floor and lay there for several minutes, sucking air into her lungs through a windpipe that burned painfully, all while being stared at by the now calm, neutral appearance of her lord. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the Elecmon gathered the strength to sit up feeble and lift a hand to her throat, which she instinctively knew would bruise.

Shurikasa looked up at her lord, then lowered her eyes, croaking out in a hoarse, weak whisper, "You. . . summoned me . . . milord . . " She didn't look up again, knowing that should he choose to attack her again, she wouldn't be so lucky as she had been this time. The attack she was half expecting never came – instead, she heard footsteps as her lord walked away from her, across the library, and a thoughtful, half-muttered reply.

"So I did, so I did. Tell me, Scout – how is the human prisoner?"

Recognizing that the danger was past, for now, Shurikasa struggled to her feet and croaked out a report, using up all of her strength in the effort to get the words out through her bruised and still burning throat. Her report was carefully censored of all of her feelings about the headache-inducing assignment, that would hopefully satisfy her lord's curiosity and let her get out of his presence as fast as possible. She had just finished it and was shifting from foot to foot, awaiting her dismissal, when he chuckled – an action that left Shurikasa frozen, because she had never heard him sound genuinely amused. "Very good, Scout. Now, be truthful – what are your feelings about the prisoner?"

". . . Milord?" Shurikasa blinked, and nearly jumped out of her skin when he turned to face her, laughter sparkling in his eyes – eyes that now looked utterly devoid of any madness whatsoever.

"The truth, Scout. I assigned you to the caretaker position specifically as punishment – the prisoner has kept you at your wits' end, has he not? Tell me your opinion of him."

Shurikasa swallowed before replying tentatively, "W-with all due respect, milord . . . I – " her voice cracked, and she had to pause and swallow again before continuing, " I wish you would have . . . let me gag him." She jumped again as that strange amused chuckle bubbled past the Lord's lips and he brought his hand to his chin thoughtfully.

"I am certain you wished to do much more to him than that, Scout. I can hear his singing in my chambers. He is certainly . . . skilled at causing annoyance." He walked towards her then, and she couldn't help but cringe away from him. If her lord noticed this, he did not react. Instead, he merely continued, "Well then, Scout – while I regret to inform you that your punishment for accelerating our schedule still stands, I shall, however, consent to letting you gag the prisoner, as to save that delicate hearing of yours. You will also be given other duties during this period which will take precedence over your assignment as caretaker; ones which I presume you will not fail." Then his eyes darted to her throat, where the bruises from his earlier attack were already beginning to form. "Before you return to duty, you have my permission to head to the infirmary for treatment. You are dismissed, Scout."

Shurikasa hastened out of the library at the fastest speed she could manage in her condition, leaving her lord to return his attention to the painting. She could hear his resumed mutterings behind her as she stumbled down the Citadel's corridors, eyes wide and unfocused. She rubbed softly at her throat and desperately attempted to put all of the events that had taken place within the library out of her mind, concentrating on the fact that she had survived yet another encounter with the Lord of the Citadel.

* * *

Daytime had returned to the Digital World before Imouku started to make his way back to where his Tamers had been resting. He had sat with the Combat Master all through the night, simply listening to stories about his parents, whom the Shaujinmon had known from their childhood. The redhead's mood was somewhere between pleased and depressed, with a good amount of irritability thrown in, and he was still very thoughtful, his mind going back to many of the stories he had heard during the night. He had learned more about his parents through the Combat Master than he ever would have known, even with the aid of his forced remembrances. Not that he would ever mention to anyone that he was grateful to the older Gijinka – he'd rather swallow his own tongue than admit such a thing.

Still, despite having discovered many similarities between himself and his parents – who knew that his father had a record of causing nearly as much mischief as he did, or that his mother's Child form had actually been an Impmon, with a temper that matched his own? (That discovery had really surprised him – he had a hard time picturing his mother as anything but the calm Black Tailmon he remembered her as) – the stories had reminded him that he should have learned these things from them, and aggravated the old pain he still felt from their loss. This, combined with his lack of sleep the night before, and many nights previously, made him more irritable than he had been lately, and he knew that he had better find a way to get a good night's sleep soon, or he was going to go insane.

He was in mid-yawn when he felt something wrap small, pudgy arms around his leg, causing him to stumble and nearly fall. Stopping in his tracks and blinking blearily, he looked down to find the toddler Gijinka Haseo firmly attached to his leg once again and smiling widely at him. The Dorimon Gijinka appeared much as he had the day before, only this time the toddler was clean. His hair remained uncombed, however, and appeared almost curly now that it wasn't so filthy. Not being in the mood for the toddler's attention, Imouku scowled down at him and shook his leg a little in an attempt to make the smaller Gijinka let go.

"Hello to you too – now get off me, would you?" Haseo shook his head and wrapped his arms tighter around the older Gijinka's leg, pouting. Imouku growled softly and shook his leg again. "Look, I have places to go, kid – so let go already!" Again the toddler shook his head, clinging to Imouku's leg as tightly as he possibly could. The redhead scowled down at him, attempting to intimidate him into leaving – unfortunately it didn't work, as the Dorimon Gijinka glared right back up at him, his face set into a stubborn expression. This standstill continued for several moments, until someone came up and grabbed the toddler, pulling him into her arms.

"Haseo, must you keep wandering off?" Imouku blinked, his attention redirected to the one holding the indignant-looking Haseo, and folded his arms, scowling in annoyance when he saw that it was the same Gazimon Gijinka who had nearly broken his ears with her wailing the day before. As if she had just seen him, too, the Gazimon squeaked and blinked a little – unbroken glasses rested on her nose, nearly sliding off when she took a step back. "Oh… hello again. S-sorry about yesterday – I-I get really nervous without my glasses." She still seemed pretty nervous to Imouku, and he frowned skeptically.

The Gazimon continued on, oblivious, stuttering occasionally as her eyes darted around the area. "I-I'm supposed to watch Haseo for his father, b-but he doesn't like me and runs away a lot. H-He's never left the village before though – I . . I never expected t-to see anyone out there. . ." She trailed off and glanced up at Imouku, who was doing a spectacularly poor job at concealing his impatience, scowling and tapping the foot that was not being tied down by toddler. This seemed to frighten her even more, and she was without words for a few moments. When she did speak again, in was in little above a whisper and so full of stutters that it was barely understandable. "U-Um . . . H-Has-seo r-r-really s-seems t- to l-like you, does- doesn't h-he? "

Imouku glanced down at the beaming Dorimon, and kicked his foot a little, grumbling. "He's definitely _attached_. Get him off of me, would you? I can't walk around with this kid stuck to my leg all day!" Something in his expression must have terrified the other Gijinka, because she squeaked again and tugged the reluctant Haseo off of the scowling redhead's leg. Haseo promptly bit her and squirmed, trying to get out of her arms and back to Imouku, who shook his head at the toddler and started walking off again. "Sorry, kiddo, I don't have time to play that game." He hadn't gone two steps, however, before the tiny Gijinka appeared in front of him and stared at him imploringly, lifting his arms, silently begging to be picked up.

Imouku blinked. "Wha - When did you . . .?" He trailed off, turning to look for the Gazimon Gijinka, not entirely surprised to find her gone. Grumbling to himself, the redhead rolled his eyes and picked the toddler up. "Fine, you can come with me for now – but I'm warning you, kiddo, don't get used to this! I have better things to do than carry you around all day; I'm not doing this again!" When the toddler giggled at him, he scowled and continued, "I mean it – I'm not!" Judging by the toddler's continuing giggles, Haseo disagreed.

The walk through the village was decidedly different for the redhead than it had been when the group had arrived. Rather than staying hidden in their homes, the Gijinka who inhabited the place seemed to all be outside at once, just to look at him. There were probably around three hundred or so inhabitants of the village – a very large amount being children, and they were all watching Imouku walk by. He could feel their eyes upon him and hear the whispered conversations taking place, and the redhead was getting a little annoyed; why did they keep staring at him? He didn't notice that he was growling until Haseo patted him on the arm and blinked up at him.

Getting frustrated now, Imouku started to walk a little faster, adamantly ignoring the staring eyes of the other Gijinka. He twitched a little as the crowd seemed to move with him, and picked up speed. Finally, after a few minutes of withstanding their stares, his limited patience wore thin.

"_Knock it off!_"

The Gijinka scattered, and he eventually made it to his destination, where the twins were waiting for him rather anxiously. As soon as they saw him, they ran up and hugged him, ignoring the indignant growl that the Dorimon Gijinka made at finding himself no longer the only one attached to Imouku.

"Im-chan! You're back!"

"Where'd you go, Im-chan?"

"Where? Why did you leave?"

Then, before the redhead could offer up any sort of explanation as to why he had vanished during the night, Makoto made a statement that caused him to drop Haseo and stumble backwards as if he had been stabbed, his eyes wide with horror.

"You missed _breakfast_, Im-chan!"

* * *

Imouku scratched an ear and yawned, not really listening to the information the Combat Master was providing the group before they left for the Citadel. He had stopped paying attention almost as soon as that Shaujinmon Gijinka had started talking. He would have wandered off in search of food, but was stopped by the disapproving glare from Reisei – which really wouldn't have stopped him, had it not been enforced by the twins hands on his arms, keeping him in place. They knew their partner well and weren't going to let him out of their sight. Thus he retaliated in the only way he could – express his complete and utter disinterest in what was happening around him.

It helped, in part, that he was still so tired from what had taken place earlier – it was so hard to keep his eyes open that he didn't have to work very much to look disinterested. Every now and then he'd start to drift off too much, and one of the twins would elbow him to wake him up. Or, in Makoto's case, remind him that they'd be getting lunch once this was over. Whether that was true or not, the redhead didn't know. But it woke him up.

Or at least, it did for a while. Eventually, Imouku's exhaustion caught up with him, and his eyes drifted shut despite themselves. His last thought before the world around him faded was that someone had better wake him up when it was time for lunch, or else he would make sure that the journey to the Citadel was a _miserable_ one for everyone. Then his mind was plunged into a dream so different from any of the others he had experienced that it clearly couldn't be connected to them.

_The world around him was a swirl of mismatched colors and blurry images that moved constantly; none of them stayed in focus long enough for him to get a clear picture of them. Sounds, too, filtered around him in a cacophony of unintelligible murmurings, intermixed with enough shouts that he felt he would be deafened if this continued for very long. Once he thought he caught a glimpse of himself as a toddler, even as he could have sworn he heard his own baby-voice speaking. A few moments later he knew for certain that he had seen something that looked like a bucket filled to the brim with something pink – and heard an accompanying shout that for once, was clearly defined above all the rest of the sounds that surrounded him:_

"_Youkano, Kuuhei! Get back here right now! I'm going to _**murder**_ you!"_

_He would have blinked in confusion, had he not felt rather . . . body-less at the moment. Had that _really_ been his mother shouting? He didn't have time to comprehend it, however, as his vision and hearing were once again assaulted by the confusing whirl of images and sounds. More images and accompanying sounds flashed past him, some too fast for him to understand. However, a single sound began to make itself known above the others, a keening wail of pure grief that started out softly and grew continuously, until it drowned out all of the other sounds and made Imouku want to cover his ears and hide from it and its repetitive cry of,_

"_Ani, Ani, Ani, Ani, Ani, Ani!"_

_Then, as he felt his mind dangerously close to snapping, the sounds and images all vanished. He found himself standing before a blue wall, with some things that bore a vague resemblance to ropes stretched across it, almost embedded into it. There were three, all of which extended as far as he could see, facing forward as he was, and he couldn't shake the feeling that this was something very important, something that he _had_ to understand at all costs. _

_The first of the ropes was the sort of gray that formed when something white faded with age, and it was cut in two, the edges frayed and jagged, as if it had been snapped rather than sliced cleanly. Somehow he knew he was looking at something several years dead; something that had been destroyed brutally, and it made him sad to look at it. The second rope was much newer and thinner, and looked much more delicate. It was glowing, unlike the first rope, and almost had a yellowish tint to it. It was a bit frayed in the middle, but was keeping itself together regardless. He had the impression that it was stronger than it looked, and possibly getting stronger; this one gave him mixed feelings, of safety and trust combined with great hurt._

_Then his attention turned to the third rope, and he would have recoiled if he could. This rope was white on one end, and glowing faintly with a blue tint, but it flickered constantly. It seemed as old as the first rope and nearly as worn, but it held together by a few strands connecting it in the middle. It was the other end, the end on the other side of those small, thin strands, however, that caused him to shudder and want to run away. This end of the rope was dripping with a jet-black liquid resembling oil, but thicker and almost sticky in appearance. It was also moving, and as he watched it drew slowly closer to the frayed point in the middle, and almost to the other side._

_While he didn't know what would happen when that substance reached the other side, he did know that it would be a very, very bad thing. Then the world around him convulsed, and started fading with the return of wakefulness. Before he was pulled out of the dream entirely, however, he saw that under the thick, slippery black goop, the rope on that end held a very small, tiny amount of the same blue glow as the other end, albeit much more faintly and nearly choked out by the substance that covered it._

* * *

It was the smell of food that woke him. Without conscious thought, his eyes snapped open and he started eating, wolfing down the food set before him at an impressive rate – even for him. He didn't know when it had been placed there or how much time has passed, and neither did he much care. Within moments he was looking around for more. Ai and Makoto, knowing their partner and his appetite, exchanged glances and handed him their plates, which they had purposefully overfilled for their partner's sake. Imouku happily took the twins' extra food and started eating, only half-listening to their attempts at chiding him.

"You should have told us you didn't sleep, Im-chan!"

"We thought you were just bored; you should have told us!"

Imouku nodded and made acknowledging sounds, although he didn't really hear them. His mind was right where he wanted it – on the food in front of his face. Thinking beyond his stomach at the moment was next to impossible, since he was so hungry and the food was there. Ai and Makoto both knew this even though they continued attempting to speak with him, and the rest of the Tamers were quickly coming to realize this as well, but it did not stop any of the group from trying to get the redhead's attention – particularly Terriermon, who made a game out of it until Jenrya stopped him.

Eventually, Imouku finished all of the food that was in sight and looked up to find everyone watching him yet again. He scowled at the group, grumbling a short,

"_What_?" even as he got up to leave; if they were just going to sit here and stare at him instead of going to the Citadel, then he'd find something to entertain himself with.

"Oh, you can hear us now?"

Imouku blinked at Terriermon, "What? Were you saying something?"

"We were only trying to get your attention for the last fifteen minutes!"

A low chuckle brought everyone's attention to the Combat Master, who stood and started walking to the edge of the village, gesturing that they were to follow him. Everyone started walking in that direction, but Imouku, who suspected something of what Terriermon had been doing while he was focused on eating, wasn't going to let the small Digimon get away with . . . . whatever it had been, and deliberately singed the tip of his ear with a single Night of Fire attack.

When Terriermon yelped and turned a glare on him, he was looking away innocently, pretending to have done nothing. No one was fooled. Reisei, who was remaining in her hybrid form for the moment, dropped back from where she had been walking beside Ruki in order to walk next to him, he deliberately looked away from her and crossed his arms, glowering. He was _still_ angry at her, although he was getting tired of being angry at her – not because he wasn't still upset by what she'd done; simply because of the fact that being angry was tiring, and he was fast approaching exhausted from his many nights of poor sleep.

". . . Imouku, _please_ - This can't go on."

There was a note of sadness and desperation in her voice that made Imouku turn and look at her in spite of himself, and what he saw surprised him. The Renamon Gijinka looked nearly as tired as he did, and he almost opened his mouth to apologize before remembering that it was her own fault she felt like this, not his, and he swallowed his words and turned away again. Still, despite his rejection, Reisei pressed on. "We can't let this stay between us, Imouku. I _am_ your friend and I want to help you, but I can't help you with anything unless you trust me again." The redhead stopped in his tracks and kicked at the ground, still refusing to look at her as he replied,

"Who says I need any help, huh?"

"No one has to say anything; I can tell that something is wrong just from looking at you."

This time he did look at her, albeit with an incredulous stare. "And what makes you say _that_?"

"It's not hard to notice. You're not sleeping, you're still having headaches, and even though your appetite is the same as always, you're losing weight. Will you please let me help you as much as I can?"

Imouku didn't answer for a long moment; instead he looked Reisei right in the eyes, and for once, saw straight through the schooled look of calm indifference she nearly always wore. In that instant, he knew that his fellow Gijinka was not just concerned for him, but that she was really _afraid_. She knew something that he didn't, and was genuinely afraid that something terrible might happen to him. There was also sorrow, and guilt – not for what she had done, surprisingly, but for the pain she had caused him in so doing. And it was that which caused him to step away from her and break eye contact.

"W-we'd better catch up to the others," the redhead muttered, destroying the silence that had taken hold a few minutes ago. He refused to look directly at Reisei again, but did watch her out of the corner of his eye and he continued, " They might leave without us if we don't hurry." He was being rude by not answering her question; he knew it and he didn't particularly care. Judging by the faint smile that twitched across Reisei's lips as he watched her, she knew what his answer was without him having to say anything.

"Hey, lovebirds! You can make kissy-kissy later! Let's get a move on!"

As Terriermon dissolved into giggles, Imouku stood there, frozen with an expression of utter disbelief on his face, for a good thirty seconds before he dissolved into splutters and angry declarations that Terriermon was out of his mind and was just _asking_ for a Night of Fire to the head. Before he could take action, however, Terriermon seemingly fell off of Jenrya's shoulder and landed on his head, where he sat for a moment trying to figure out what way was up. While Jenrya knelt down to pick up his partner, Reisei moved to her customary place beside Ruki, without a word.

Only her partner saw the satisfied smile on her face.

* * *

The group reached the edge of the village a few minutes later, and watched as the Gazimon Gijinka who had lead them into the village ran up, huffing to catch her breath. Imouku winced and backed away from her – something about the strange, panicky Gijinka set him on edge. No one else seemed to have the same feeling, however, as they greeted her cheerfully enough. The Combat Master, from his place a little to one side of the group, cleared his throat and all eyes turned towards him.

"Kiokure will guide you all to the Citadel's Plane, but I am afraid that you will have to make your way to the Citadel itself without assistance. I wish you the best of luck on your journey, my friends." The Gazimon Gijinka bowed politely and wordlessly, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as she stood there and trembled. Something about this situation struck Imouku as being very wrong, and he folded his arms with a scowl, shaking his head.

"No way," he growled, and repeated himself once he had the entire groups attention. "There's no _way_ I'm going anywhere with her. We're better off finding the place on our own than trusting that wimp to lead us to the right place! She'd probably just lead us straight to a hole under a rock!" He was being overly harsh and he knew it, but some part of him was screaming that going with this Gijinka was dangerous, that nothing good would come of it. This part of him was railing that he had to get rid of her, get her away from him and everyone else, and it was extremely difficult to ignore. Unfortunately, none of the others felt this anxiety and were looking at him with more than a little exasperation.

"Come on; there's no need to be so cruel – I bet she'll be an excellent guide," Takato spoke up from the front of the group, and there were murmurs of agreement all around. Even Reisei, who had so recently admitted to wanting to help him, looked as if she thought he was being foolish again. Kicking at a rock that lay near his feet, Imouku grumbled and realized that there was just no way they were going to listen to him. So the redhead gave up for the moment, resolving to do everything he could to find out why the Gazimon Gijinka gave him such a bad feeling.

Before they stepped foot outside the barrier that hid the village from the rest of the Digital World, Kiokure and Reisei both shifted to Digimon form. The Gazimon blinked at Imouku, tilting her head curiously.

"U-um…. Sh-shouldn't you shift t-t-too? I-It's dangerous t-to go around in hybrid form . . ."

Imouku grunted and turned away from her, not deigning to provide her with a response. Even if he had to let her stay with them for the moment, he didn't have to talk to her, and he wasn't going to. Not if he could help it, anyway. Renamon walked over to him and touched him on the shoulder, forcing him to look at her. He did, but with a very grumpy scowl that dripped with his displeasure. Seeing the look of stubborn anger yet again resting on his features, Renamon sighed.

"She's right, you know. We were lucky not to run into any trouble before now. We really can't risk such a thing any further."

He growled, then, and hissed at her,

"You _know_ I can't do that!"

She merely raised an eyebrow, and replied, "Not to Digimon form, perhaps. But as we all saw earlier, you still have access to your human form."

Imouku's jaw dropped, and he shook his head, "No _way_. I can at least fight in this form; in human form I can't even do that!"

When Renamon answered him, it was slowly, and thoughtfully – and convincingly. "Yes, but are you willing to risk the safety of your Tamers just for the sake of fighting?"

She had him there and she knew it. With a much grumbled _"Fine,_" Imouku shifted back into human form. He kept to the tail end of the group once they headed out of the village, and didn't say a word, instead thinking over his dreams, what he had discussed with the Combat Master, and attempting to figure out just what was going on. After awhile, the twins dropped back from where they had been chatting with Ruki and Jenrya – or at least attempting to, in Ai's case, as she was much too tongue-tied to say much of anything – to walk with him, each taking one of his hands in their own.

The redhead ignored them along with everyone else, for the most part, although when they tugged at his hands and shot him worried glances, he would manage to smile at them a little. As they walked, Kiokure would glance at the data streams as they flashed by, occasionally watching one or two longer than the others. This continued until she noticed one that was heading fairly close to them, which she took off running towards at a breakneck pace.

"We'll take this one! Hurry!"

"But we don't even know where these things lead!" Surprisingly, it was Jenrya who protested first. Imouku's had snapped up and he started listening intently when the Gazimon Gijinka started speaking, because something about her sounded . . . different when she answered the Tamers' confused protests.

"You may not, but I do – and this one will take us where we need to go! Now hurry or we'll miss our ride!" The group exchanged shrugs and confused glances before heading towards the data stream. Imouku remained where he was, his eyes narrowed as he tried to place just what it was about Kiokure's voice that seemed so different. It was only as his Tamers tugged at his hands, forcing him to start moving toward the data stream – not that they needed to, it was heading toward them now – that he realized that what had made her sound so different was that the Gazimon Gijinka hadn't stuttered even once when she had spoken.

* * *

The group had barely recovered from their unconventional transportation – which seemed to have merely moved them to yet another location within the vast desert - when the Gazimon Gijinka beckoned them into what looked like a large fissure in a rock formation. Most of the group followed her willingly enough; for whatever reason they trusted her, despite her skittishness. Imouku, on the other hand, remained outside for a few moments longer. There was something about this thing that seemed . . . familiar, somehow, and he stared at it, trying to place just what that something was. Or at least he did until the twins tugged on his hands, calling,

"Come on, Im-chan!"

"Yeah, we have to hurry!"

"All right, all right, I'm coming. You can stop trying to pull my arms off now," the redhead grumbled, before grinning at his Tamers to let them know he wasn't really upset with them. Shaking his head to clear it of the strange feeling, Imouku followed the rest of the group – somewhat reluctantly, as he still felt that there was some kind of danger around – into the fissure. Surprisingly, what at first appeared to be a small crack just barely big enough to fit through if they went in single file quickly widened out into a large – and dark – tunnel. At the end of it was a pair of large gates, that would have been imposing had the not been torn from their hinges.

Something twisted inside Imouku at that sight, but he wasn't sure why. "Th-this place . . ." He murmured to himself, but fell silent when the twins shot him worried looks. As they drew nearer to the doors, some instinct deep within him urged him to turn and run, to get out of there, there was danger. He twitched a little, trying to fight down the feeling while trying to figure out what was causing it. Suddenly, quite out of nowhere, it hit him and he froze in place, his eyes going blank as his mind was carried into the haze of distant memory.

_He clung to his mother, wailing in terror at the sight and sound of the explosions behind him. He could tell that she was terrified too by the way she didn't even try to comfort him as she ran. He squeezed his eyes shut, clinging to the babyish hope that if he closed his eyes, everything would all go away. When he opened them again, of course, everything was still the same. He wailed harder, and nearly screamed as he and his mother were nearly hit by a piece of one of the taller buildings. _

_His infant's mind could not comprehend what was happening around him, not even when his mother hissed and backed away from a Chuumon who appeared in front of them. His mother shifted him in her arms, and he felt her tense. Then the Chuumon was blasted into data as his father arrived. He reached for him, but was ignored as his father grabbed his mother's free wrist and tugged her in a different direction than the one she had been going in._

"_Come on, Ani, this way!"_

"_Youkano, who's _doing_ this?"_

_His father's tone, when he replied, was so bitter that it caused the tiny Yaamon Gijinka to stop crying long enough to blink at him._

"_Who do you _think_, Ani'? Kuuhei."_

Imouku blinked and shook his head furiously, trying to clear his mind of what had just been brought back up. He had been very small during the attack on his home – the attack that had started the long flight across the Digital World, the one that had ended in his parents' deaths – and he didn't remember much. He remembered more of the nights he spent unable to sleep by himself, terrified of the nightmares the incident had caused and what might happen. If just seeing these gates had been enough to send him into a flashback of that night, then what would happen once he stepped through them? He gulped, and blinked when he felt his Tamers' arms around him.

"Im-chan, are you okay?"

"You're all pale, Im-chan! What's wrong?"

Seeing that heads were starting to turn in his direction, Imouku shrugged and offered up a weak smile.

"I'm f-fine, you two. Let's – let's get moving."

Although Ai and Makoto looked less than reassured, they nodded, and the redheaded Gijinka started walking again. The sight on the other side of the ruined gates was what he expected it to be, but that didn't make it any easier to take in. The ruins of what had once been a great city stood spread out before the group, spires and towers once reaching toward the sky lying broken on the ground, many buildings only skeletons of what they had been, some gone entirely. There was the odd building that remained standing, nearly untouched, but that only served to emphasize the destruction that had taken place. Imouku swallowed heavily – despite the faintness of his memories of this place, it was still hard knowing what had taken place here.

"W-what is this place . . . ?" Takato gasped from the front of the group. "What happened here?"

None of the three Gijinka in the group dared to answer, at first. Imouku fidgeted, hoping that Renamon or even Kiokure would answer. He was having enough trouble keeping his dreams from haunting his mind, let alone trying to explain one of the most nightmarish days of his childhood. Fortunately for him, he was spared from such effort. Renamon, whose eyes remained locked on the tableau before her, answered the Gogglehead's question.

"This was the great city of the Gijinka – the capitol, I suppose you could call it. It . . . was destroyed a long time ago – along with the majority of the Gijinka people. The attackers did not spare anyone's life, not even the smallest infant." When she spoke, it was in a tone as calm and detached as ever, as if she wasn't talking about the slaughter of thousands. Imouku wanted to throw up.

"But . . . why?"

Renamon's answer was hesitant. And in the pause between Takato's horrified question and her answer, Imouku spotted a house among the lot that appeared virtually untouched. Even though he hadn't been near it in a very long time, he instantly recognized it. His feet started carrying him toward it of their own accord. His Tamers tugged at his hands to no avail, he simply freed himself from their grip and broke into a run, heading straight towards that one particular intact building – his old home. Behind him, he heard the calls of his Tamers to wait, as well as Renamon's answer.

"Hatred. Hatred born of fear and the mystery that surrounds our people."

If anyone said anything in reply, Imouku didn't hear it.

**-TBC-**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **Please don't kill me for the closer of this chapter. I couldn't help it, really! I know this chapter is shorter than the last few have been, but it still has a lot of important events in it, and there was no way I could make it longer without ruining the end of it. So, shorter chapter but hopefully a satisfactory one nonetheless. We're to the important stuff now, people; the main plot is officially underway now. Unfortunately my classes are starting back up, and there's a lot of writing I'll have to be doing for them, which means less time to be writing this. I will _not_ let it die, however. This story is my baby, as is Im-chan. So don't give up on me yet, people! I _will_ see this through to the end!

**Thanks to: **Impkat and Impy Kun. For kicking me in the rear to get me moving! xD

**Disclaimer: **Anything recognizable from Digimon is the property of Toei Animation; anything not (incuding certain characters, this oncept of Gijinka, the Citadel and the Village) belong to me. Now, go read my favorite chapter thus far! (Pfft, like you're not already reading it anyway!)

**The Last of the Gijinka**

**Chapter Nine**

It hadn't changed at all. Imouku wasn't sure why this surprised him, but it did. Everything in the small house was exactly the way it had been when he and his family had left it. In fact, it was too perfect . . . almost like a museum replica of a home rather than a real one. For some reason this made Imouku nervous, and he glanced around him carefully, trying to figure out just what was so wrong about it. After a few moments of looking around and not being able to place a specific cause for that feeling, he shrugged and started making his way through it, spotting bits and pieces here and there that jogged long-buried memories. Things like the framed portion of the wall that surrounded a child's picture of himself and his family, kept and praised for rather than washed off and disciplined for, or the tiny, plush Terriermon kept in a loving spot on a child's first bed; no wonder he had never gotten along with the real thing, the plush one was much nicer to him!

He scooped up the plush as he walked by, idly stowing it in the backpack he had taken from Ai when she had begun to grow tired just before entering the city. There were other things as well, things that triggered much fainter memories, some merely touches - whispers in his mind of things gone by, things too mundane for his mind to hold onto as more than a faint impression. Really, it was astounding that he was remembering this much of his childhood home – his first home, his only home until he had come to the Real World – and he supposed he had whoever had been messing with his head to thank for that.

It didn't take him very long to go through the entire house; despite his family having been a prominent one – at least, from what he could remember and from the Combat Master's stories – the house was small, a comfortable size with just enough room for the small family that had lived there. Thus he had almost finished looking around when he heard his Tamers enter the building. As they came up behind him, he was standing in his parents' old bedroom, looking at a spot just above the headboard of their western-style bed. Unlike the rest of the house, which was as exact in detail as if preserved in time, something was different about this spot – something was missing, and he was straining his memory to figure out what when his hands were captured by theirs.

"Im-chan? Why'd you leave?"

"Why did you come here, Im-chan?"

Imouku swallowed, and was about to answer when another voice spoke up.

"He came here because this is where he was born. Isn't that right, Imouku-sama?" The redhead whirled to see who had spoken, and saw Kiokure the Gazimon Gijinka in the doorway, leaning against the frame and looking completely different from the frazzled, timid persona she had held up until this point. Her glasses weren't on her nose, and her crimson eyes were as hard as rubies as she stared at Imouku without the slightest sign of squinting or having difficulty seeing him. "I was told that getting you here would be easy, but I underestimated just _how_ easy. I suppose it's because of your memories, hmm, Imouku-sama? The entire Citadel knows what our Lord's been doing to your mind, you know. I'm sure you're looking for some answers. Why not come and get them?"

At the first mention of the Citadel, Imouku had placed himself between the twins and the other Gijinka, shifting back to his hybrid form and growling protectively. Kiokure flinched, slightly, and then smirked.

"You really do look just like him, Imouku-sama. The resemblance is almost frightening; if I could be scared of you, that is. You know as well as I do that with the all the tampering to your mind, you're lucky to not be slumped in a corner somewhere, drooling. You can relax; I won't hurt your precious pet _humans_ – " and she spat out the word like it was a curse, before continuing. "But you do need to come with me, I'm afraid. Milord's been waiting long enough."

"Why?" Imouku growled, causing the Gazimon Gijinka to blink in confusion, before he continued, "Why is he waiting for me at all? I don't get it!" To his surprise and humiliation, the other Gijinka burst into laughter. Even as the twins tensed behind him, and started berating her for laughing at their partner – their partner, who was, at the moment, trying his hardest to rein in his temper, not because he wanted to; he'd like more than anything to set the other on fire, but because she apparently had the answers that kept slipping out of his reach.

It didn't take long for Kiokure to get her laughter under control, however, and once she did, she started speaking again.

"You don't get it _yet_, Imouku-sama? You'd think after all this time of having Milord tearing through your mind, dragging those memories to the surface and influencing your thoughts – oh, don't give me that look," she huffed, when Imouku growled and glared at her again, "I told you – the entire Citadel knows what's been going on; it's been a part of our plan for months! Look, you silly child, the answers are all right in front of you. You've been staring at them for at least ten minutes before I even came in here!"

Imouku gaped at her for a moment, clueless, before his eyes turned back to the place over the headboard of his parents' bed, where something wasn't there that should have been; something important. All of a sudden, realization slammed into him with the force of an iron pipe hitting his skull, and his mind carried him back into the past, away from the frantically calling voices of his Tamers, away from the smiling Gazimon Gijinka, away from everything but the single memory of what should have been hanging above that bed.

* * *

"_What do you think, Ani? Isn't it great!"_

_His father's voice was excited, and if his voice wasn't enough, his tail gave it away by wagging back and forth at a rapid pace. Imouku laughed and tried to grab the long, fluffy object that his Papa could never keep still when he was excited. It wasn't like his Mama's tail, which moved a lot when she was mad, and it made him wish he had a tail too, because it looked like it would be fun to play with, if it was like his Papa's. Mama said he'd get one when he got bigger, but that was a long time to wait, so for now he'd just play with his Papa's tail. Small hands reached up and caught the wildly moving fluffy brush, swinging back and forth as he struggled to hold onto it._

_Surprised by the tugging, his Papa turned enough to see him, and then pried his fingers off of the tail, pulling him up into his arms and showing him just what he was so excited about. "See this, Imouku? That's you and your Mama!" Imouku stared at the picture in front of him, and blinked in confusion, looking over at his mother. She was right where he'd last seen her, standing off to the side and watching quietly, biting back the smile that said how silly she thought his Papa was being. The tiny redhead blinked again, and reached out to touch the other Mama, the Mama holding the baby in the picture that couldn't be him._

"_Mama?" He asked it, but it didn't respond. "Mama?" He asked it again, and this time tried to touch it – only to have his hand gently caught and pulled back. Confused, he looked up to his Papa, who held his hand and smiled at him._

"_No touching it, Imouku – it's just a picture, kiddo, like the one you drew on the wall yesterday."_

"_You mean the one you _both_ drew, don't you, Youkano?" His Mama spoke up, coming over to rest her chin on his Papa's shoulder. "Don't think I didn't notice you scribbling right next to him!" His father made a guilty sounding whine, but his eyes sparkled._

"_I was coerced, Ani! Tricked into it; no free will involved!"_

_Imouku blinked as his Mama laughed._

"_Ah, of course. Imouku-chan tied you up and threatened you with no kisses from me if you didn't help him."_

_His Papa's eyes widened, as he answered, "Why, that's it _exactly_! Ani, how did you know?" They both laughed, and then looked to the other Mama again – the one Papa said was just a picture. Imouku turned to look at it, too, but only did for a moment because it was much more interesting to watch _his_ Mama – the one that moved and talked, as well as his funny Papa. His Mama's eyes were wide as she stared at the other one – who couldn't be a picture 'cause pictures didn't _feel_ like the person they looked like!_

"_Youkano . . . how did you _do _this? It . . . it has the same – the same feel to it; you didn't…" His Mama trailed off, and the corners of her mouth turned down into the frown that said someone was in very much trouble. "Youkano – did you connect this to us?" Her voice was tense, tight sounding, like it was fighting to come out of her. Imouku wondered what was wrong. Did she not like the other Mama? He looked up, trying to see his Papa's face, and blinked at the strange look he found there._

"_I did, Ani."_

_When his Mama spoke again, her voice shook. "Why, Youkano? You…. You know that this is wrong – using our bonds, trying them into something that's not even alive! Why would you do this?"_

_There was a long silence before his Papa spoke again. When he did, his voice was slow, and tired-sounding, as if he were both very sleepy and very sad._

"_Ani . . . Kuuhei escaped last night." His Mama's gasp brought Imouku's eyes to her, and he saw her covering her mouth as tears rolled down her cheeks. His Papa continued, and it seemed like he never heard her. "It's only a matter of time now, Ani. He wants you, he wants Imouku –" and here, his Papa's grip on him tightened to an uncomfortable strength, and he squeaked and wriggled until it was loosened again. His Papa ruffled his hair, saying, "Sorry, Imouku," before continuing. "Nothing in the worlds is going to stop him now, Ani. I'm doing everything I can to keep you safe, to keep you out of his hands, but . . . I'm only so strong, and . . . if something were to happen to either of you, whether my brother got his hands on you or . . . worse, I don't think I could bear it."_

_Imouku didn't understand what was being said, but the weight of it hung in the air around him, and he could feel how upset and scared his Mama and Papa both were. He listened closely as his Papa started speaking again, in that same sad voice as tears rolled down his Mama's cheeks. "Is it so wrong of me to want to have a piece of you always, Ani? Someday, this portrait of you may be all that I have left. Please, don't be angry with me for wanting to keep it."_

_His Mama shook her head, bright eyes wide with tears and fright mixed together – this upset Imouku greatly, and he reached for her, wanting to be held by her. She took him from his Papa's arms and cradled him up against her as she replied,_

"_Don't…. be silly, Youkano. Nothing's going to happen to Imouku and I. You won't let it – and what if Kuuhei gets this painting? W-what will he do with something like this in his hands?"_

"_Better than what he'd do if he had you," his Papa answered, and Imouku cringed away from him in that moment, because his eyes were hard, like green stones, and he looked very scary, not like his Papa at all. Imouku turned and hid his face in his Mama's shoulder, away from the frightening sight._

* * *

Imouku snapped back into awareness of the world around him, turning to stare at Kiokure as the pieces fell together in his mind. The Gazimon Gijinka smiled back at him, and made herself comfortable against the wall. The redhead swallowed, as the weight of the knowledge he now carried nearly crushed him – that is, if he had truly figured it out. It all made sense now, yes, but . . . surely there was some other explanation for what was going on. He opened his mouth, about to demand an explanation from the other Gijinka, or a denial - because he had to be wrong about this, he just _had_ to – when the rest of the Tamers crowded into the small room.

"There you are," Renamon spoke up, from the doorway just behind Kiokure. "We were all worried when you ran."

Imouku barely even heard her. His attention was totally focused on the black-haired Gijinka that was smiling at him with hard ruby eyes. He swallowed, and said,

"You'll take me to him?" It wasn't a question, not really, despite the way it sounded. He missed the shock on the faces of his Tamers and the others, missed their exclamations and murmurs of confusion, and waited for the answer that wasn't slow in coming from the Gazimon. She nodded, and bowed to him – an action that further confirmed what he was already realizing, with a sinking feeling, was the truth. He followed her, past the others, and had almost made it to the entrance of the house when Renamon appeared just behind Kiokure and just in front of him, blocking the exit.

"I cannot let you pass, Imouku. The Citadel is far too dangerous for you in your current state."

He growled at her, fists clenching as his whole body tensed.

"Let me _through_, Renamon! I have to do this! I _have to_!"

He could see her answer in her eyes long before she ever spoke the words.

"I will not."

Imouku would have attacked her then; he wanted to – needed to – but the rest of the Tamers and Digimon had come up behind him, forming a circle of sorts that left him feeling very trapped. He felt the twins come up behind him and take his hands, tugging on them insistently, and he barely managed to rein in the snarl on his face as he looked down at them. They blinked up at him, their faces mirrored expressions of worry for him.

"Im-chan!"

"Im-chan, why are you angry? What's wrong?"

He wanted to answer, to tell them that his entire world was spinning out of control and that he had to find a way to stop it; that going to the Citadel and seeing the truth for himself was the only way to set things right, but for some reason, for once in his life, he said nothing. Later, he would look back on this moment, and wish that he had said something, had at least tried to explain to his Tamers and the others – his friends, as much as he would deny it on occasion, why he needed this. Perhaps things would have gone differently, perhaps not.

He would never know.

"If Renamon thinks you shouldn't go, then you probably shouldn't." Imouku's eyes flicked to the speaker, and he growled slightly at Ruki, whose expression of mixed annoyance and concern was mirrored in the faces surrounding the redheaded Gijinka, and he knew: None of them would let him go, for any reason. But he had to go; he couldn't just ignore everything that was happening to and around him; whether they understood or not, they _could not stop him_. He couldn't let them.

In that moment, nothing was clearer to him.

And in that moment, he knew exactly what he had to do. He glanced around at the circle, taking in each of their faces, staring longer at some than at others. He lingered the longest on Renamon, who didn't even twitch under his gaze, and the twins, who stared up at him with tearful brown eyes. His stomach twisted harshly, and he swallowed, nauseated by what he was about to do to the only beings he'd dared to consider family for a very long time.

"Ai . . . Makoto," he began, and paused. They blinked up at him, and he felt his own eyes watering at what he was about to do. "I'm sorry." Watching the confusion grow in their faces for a moment, he closed his eyes, and reached within himself to a place he hadn't touched since the day his mother had died, took what he found there, and pushed _out_. When he opened them again, he didn't waste time looking at the dozen or so sleeping faces - except, perhaps to look once more upon the twins as a form of apology – and turned his gaze to the one being in the entire nearly-empty city that he had left conscious. Kiokure stared back at him, the expression on her face slightly awed and much more intimidated than she had been moments ago. Finally, she smirked.

"Well, it seems you're holding yourself together better than I thought you were. Very good, Imouku-sama; Milord will be pleased to see how strong you have become." Imouku snarled at her again, annoyed with her, and with himself for having committed the act that would once again set him against those who considered themselves his friends. This time, when he did this, the Gazimon Gijinka stepped back, looking much more wary of him than she had the last time.

"You'll take me to the Citadel," he said, and this time it wasn't a question, nor was it a statement. It was a command, and the Gijinka before him knew it. She held his gaze for only a split second this time, before flinching away; it seemed something in his eyes had bothered her, somehow. It was especially obvious when she bowed before him, and, still refusing to make eye contact again, answered in a somewhat shaky voice,

"Of course. That was my assignment, after all."

Imouku took one last look around the house, and, on something of a whim, untied his bandanna and laid it across the twins, who were sprawled all over each other, as they often did when they fell asleep in the same spot. Then he turned, and stepped carefully over Renamon, who was still slumped in the doorway despite being asleep, and walked over to where the Citadel Gijinka stood waiting. He swallowed, once, and spoke.

"Then let's go."

* * *

It was a weary group of humans, Digimon, and one extremely quiet – even for her – Gijinka who trudged into the village that evening. The group looked half-dead from exhaustion, with the exception of the twins, who appeared to simply be in shock. In her hand, Ai clung to the bandana Imouku had left them with a grip so tight that her knuckles were as white as marble. Makoto clutched his sister's free hand desperately, as if she was his last lifeline. Both of the twins sported the dazed look of someone who has been hurt so deeply that it goes straight to their soul.

Neither one of them could wrap their minds around what their partner, who was practically their older brother, had done. As for Renamon, she was as hard to read as ever; however Ruki could see that she was upset with herself for letting the redheaded Gijinka do . . . whatever it was he had done. This wasn't to say that the rest of the group did not feel this way, at least to some extent, but it was almost as if the fox-like Gijinka was placing the responsibility for the incident on her shoulders alone.

The group had spent nearly two hours asleep, as best they could tell – more unconscious than asleep, but waking up was not difficult, if slow. Upon realizing that their friend and the apparent spy who had lead them to this place were both gone, the twins had fallen into a silence that was as of yet still unbroken, while the others looked to Renamon for an explanation; one that she had been either unwilling or unable to give. Instead, she had simply stated that they needed to try and get back to the village, because there was no direct route to the Citadel from their location – the entire detour to the city had been a trap, designed purely for Imouku.

A trap that Renamon felt she should have recognized well before there was any danger.

Surprisingly, when the Combat Master met them at the village entrance, he was sad rather then angry; when his gaze moved to Reisei's just after she shifted back into hybrid form, he offered her a small smile of reassurance before speaking.

"It is as I feared, then." He paused, sighing slightly, then spoke in a loud, commanding tone, "Come! I know you are tired, but your rest will have to be postponed for a moment." He made a slight motion with his left hand and two Black Garurumon Gijinka appeared beside him, seeming to have appeared out of nowhere. Combat Master Garundo turned to them, and ordered, "Gather the citizens and inform them that the storm is upon us; it is time to stand and fight for our very lives!" The Black Garurumon nodded and left without a word, although their identical golden eyes darkened almost to the point of being brown. When they had gone, the Combat master turned to the Tamers, looking very serious.

"I am afraid that, now that its Lord has what he desires, he is ready to start the first stage of his war upon all races – and since I and my village stand against him, we will be the first to fall. What is coming is a conflict that no children should be forced to witness, and as it is likely that your friend from before is now without hope of rescue, I am asking you this: Will you leave and go back to your home, that this war may not touch you until it must?"

The Tamers, although uniformly exhausted, shared one long look at each other before turning back to the Combat Master and shaking their heads as one. Takato, his hand resting on Guilmon's head as he walked, stepped forward and looked the tall Gijinka in the eye, stating clearly,

"We won't abandon anyone who needs our help, and we're definitely not going to leave our friends behind. I know you mean well and I'm sure you just want to protect us, but we're staying. You need our help, and we're going to give it." The Gogglehead's statement was echoed by nods of agreement from the gathering behind him. Not one of the Tamers or their partners was willing to go home and abandon their friends, both old and new.

The combat Master nodded, thoughtfully, and replied, "Very well. You will find your lodgings as you left them; I suggest you rest while you can. When the time comes, rest will be in short supply." As they started to leave, he nodded to Reisei, and she remained in place, saying nothing after a quiet exchange of words with Ruki, informing her that she would meet up with her shortly. After the group had gone, the Combat Master turned to the silver-haired Gijinka. "His sanity?"

Reisei closed her eyes as she answered, "Intact, as of when I last saw him." She hesitated, then continued, "He knocked all of us out; even as hindered as he is with his condition, his power was . . . overwhelming. I've known him for several years, Combat Master, and never once did I ever suspect that he was capable of such strength as he showed today," she stated, and waited for her cue to proceed. "His mind must be . . . very strong to not only be holding together so well under all of the stress he has been under, but to hide that much power for years . . ." She trailed off, seeing that her commander wanted to speak.

" Yes, Reisei, he is very strong; stronger than he even realizes, I believe. But this does not lessen the danger he is in while he remains at the Citadel. You and your friends would be in great danger there, it is true, but nothing so great as what he now faces." He sighed, making certain she was listening, before going on, "The danger that Imouku Youkano-Anikana will by now have been confronted with is both a physical danger and a mental one, and is far greater than any of us could imagine due to its extremely personal nature. There is a reason the Lord of the Citadel has been so interested in that boy, and it has little to do with his power, and everything to do with who he is."

Sensing that he wanted to say more, Reisei remained silent, and the combat master told her what he knew about the Lord of the Citadel; what he had not told anyone. The Renamon Gijinka immediately understood and forgave Imouku for his abandonment. When confronted with information such as this, how could he resist the desire to find out whether or not it was true? After finding out, however, her worry for the redhead, which had already been extreme, now tripled to the point that it nearly consumed her.

There was nothing that could be done for Imouku now. The hands of destiny, it seemed, were at work here.

* * *

The Citadel was nothing like Imouku had expected it to be. Or at least it probably would have been, had he any expectations about it. Since he had none, it was just another building to him - albeit a building that was more an enclosed city, like out of some epic fantasy novel. Seemingly made from black stone, the Citadel was, in all truth, a rather intimidating thing; had Imouku been more cultured he would have compared its overall appearance to something out of a dark, gothic novel. As it was, his only comment was,

"Yeesh, this place sure is depressing."

Kiokure merely glared at him halfheartedly. The two Gijinka had been walking for over an hour across the vast plains that surrounded the castle; this pocket-dimension of the Digital World was much bigger than one would think it could be; easily large enough to hold several small towns in addition to the towering black structure that dominated its landscape. Not that Imouku thought much about it, or the subtle changes that had been taking place across it even as they walked. His mind was focused solely on what awaited him within the Citadel itself.

The journey had been mostly silent, as Imouku had been too focused on what lay in wait for him to bother starting any sort of a conversation, even if he had been interested in talking with the strange, Citadel Gijinka who was traveling with him. For her part, the Gazimon Gijinka never spoke, simply eyeing Imouku now and then, almost as if she were comparing him to someone or something in her mind . . . occasionally when she glanced at him, she would flinch, and other times she would curl her lip and sneer at him, as if he was the most pathetic being in the two worlds.

Not that Imouku really cared what she thought, but that was beginning to get annoying. He only hoped that he could hold his temper in until they reached their destination. Attacking her wouldn't do any good, even if it would make him feel better. Still . . . It was a struggle that he was rapidly losing. The redhead was very glad when they'd reached the gates to the fortress-city that was the Citadel, so that he didn't lose his (admittedly short) temper and attack the annoying Gazimon Gijinka – in the condition he was in, he knew he wouldn't really be able to win, no matter how good he was.

When the Gijinka guarding the gates saw Imouku, their eyes widened and they dropped into a bow, hurriedly letting the two Gijinka through. Normally, Imouku would have had his ego gratified by this obviously respectful treatment, but when it was combined with the fear in the guards' eyes and the suspicion growing in his own mind, it simply made him feel ill. This feeling only grew worse as he was led through the Citadel complex itself and he saw the same reactions repeated over and over again, until Kiokure led him to a large door within the main, towering building.

"If you're going to throw up, do so _before _we meet Milord. In there is the washroom; I have orders to make sure you're presentable before you see him. And be quick about it, would you? Milord is not known for his patience, and he has been waiting for you for a very long time." Suddenly, she pushed him through the door, closing it on him before he could yell at her. "I'll be waiting out here, and don't think I'm not timing you, Imouku-_sama_!" Her voice came through the door, muffled but understandable.

Imouku made faces at the door for a few minutes and pictured burning her hair off. Eventually, though, the pressing urge to hurry and see, really see the truth about the Citadel's leader for himself won out, and he decided to as recommended – not ordered, no, no way – so that he could get his doubts put to rest sooner rather than later. It didn't help that Kiokure's words had seemed like a genuine warning underneath her annoying behavior.

If the Lord of the Citadel really was who he believed him to be . . .

Imouku swallowed, and shook his head, trying to shake his thoughts out of the direction they were going. He had to see for himself first; then he could wonder about how, why, and all of that other stuff. After all, he still didn't know for sure that his suspicions were true. It could still be someone else, someone completely different from whom he expected to be awaiting him in this depressing, gloomy place. Although, judging by the reactions of the Gijinka living here – there were more here than there were in the village, and he had the feeling he had only seen a small portion of the population of this place – the chances of his suspicion being wrong were extremely small.

Thinking of this once again made him feel ill, and he forced the feeling down. Getting sick now wouldn't help anything, and he could tell that the Gazimon Gijinka waiting outside for him was getting more impatient by the second – the fact that she had started knocking on the door nearly constantly told him that much. Rolling his eyes and vowing vengeance in the form of hair loss, Imouku finished up and took one long look at himself in the mirror; at the hardness in his eyes, the shadows under them that told the world he hadn't been sleeping well in a long time, and he swallowed, vowing to himself that no matter what awaited him, he was never going to hurt his friends. Even if it meant hurting his . . .

'_No, not going there yet; think about it later, not now!'_

Then he took a deep breath and stepped out of the room, staring at the now-frantic Gazimon Gijinka with eyes that gave no sign of the anxiety he felt. Kiokure, on the other hand, once again looked a frazzled mess and she impulsively grabbed his arm – which he immediately pulled away from her – and started hurrying through the Citadel. Everything about her now radiated true panic as she hurried him through the castle, and while she didn't say anything he could tell she was truly and deeply afraid. Oddly, his only thought was that she must have had a disorder of some kind with the way she kept switching between flighty to scornful.

Walking to what he mentally considered the "throne room", just because that was what he expected to be awaiting him, seemed to take forever. It was made longer by the many pairs of eyes that peeked out at him from around mostly closed doors and from behind various pieces of furniture. It was somewhat similar to what had occurred back in the village, except that the Gijinka staring at him here seemed to be oddly terrified of him; and while he knew that he had done many things that could be considered monstrous in his lifetime, he could think of no reason for these people to be so frightened of him upon first sight – unless, of course, his suspicions were correct, after all.

Finally, after enduring the stares for what seemed like forever - but was in fact really just under ten minutes - Kiokure lead him to a large set of double doors that reminded Imouku of some of the movies the twins had forced him into watching; the ones with the evil kings who always wound up destroyed. This was not a train of thought the redhead wanted to follow, so he forced himself to look at Kiokure and focus on what she had started to say.

"Look, I don't like you, but I'm not out to see you get killed in there, either, so, when you go in, make _sure _that you kneel – don't forget or it could mean your life; no matter how much Milord seems to have wanted you here, I wouldn't put it past him to kill you anyway, so watch yourself. Got it?"

Before he had a chance to reply, she shoved him through the suddenly open set of doors, and he found himself walking in a large hall. He swallowed again and watched the floor as he walked, not daring to raise his eyes to the figure seated on the throne at the end of the hall; he was almost certain of what he would see, and he dreaded the moment he would have to. That moment came much sooner than he would like, as he reached the base of the throne and – realizing that the Gazimon Gijinka had given him advice in earnest and that he wasn't wanting to die any time soon - he knelt.

It took every bit of his strength to raise his head and look at the figure on the throne, especially when all of his thoughts were confirmed. The face was slightly different – older, somehow, and framed by extremely long, blonde hair – a product of reaching Mega form, Imouku realized in an almost detached manner. For it was certain that the Gijinka in front of him was at Mega level, not that the redhead particularly cared. He was far too focused on the eyes staring at him, drinking in his appearance and clearly comparing it to a memory – just as he himself was doing.

A long moment passed before either of them spoke. In the end, it was Imouku who broke the silence between the Lord of the Citadel and himself. He looked up into the face that was an older copy of his own, right down to the emerald green of their matching eyes – eyes that seemed somehow colder and not quite . . . right in this face that was not his own - and he spoke, forcing the words haltingly past his frozen lips; the words that brought his reality to its knees.

"It's," he paused, uncertain of what to call the Gijinka before him, before finally settling on the word that summed up his relationship to him in as distant a manner as possible. "It's good to see you, Father."

**-TBC-**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Yush, I live! College studies just slid this fic onto the backburner for a bit, unfortunately. But now this chapter's here at long last, and – don't kill me when you get to the end, okay? We're getting to the really intense parts now, as I'm sure you'll see very quickly. Don't worry, everything's going to make sense. Although this is where the story takes its seriously ark turn. This ain't for the little kiddies, folks, though it's nothing to intense for its rating. Just be aware that Im-chan is about to face some of the hardest times of his life. Doesn't that sound lovely? ;)

**Disclaimer:** I own this particular concept of Gijinka, and the individual Gijinka (although not their Digimon parts, how confusing). Meh, you know the drill. I'm just playing, not claiming as mine. Except for the stuff that IS mine. You should be able to recognize what's what by now.

* * *

**The Last of the Gijinka**

**Chapter Ten**

Imouku winced as the medic finished tying off the last of the twenty-seven stitches that ran down his side, biting back the curse that was on his lips. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered doing that, but the presence of the small Tsukaimon Gijinka sitting anxiously next to him kept his language in check, at least for the moment. The medic, a Youkomon Gijinka with short, tightly cropped hair – a mark of dishonor or extreme grief among their people – smiled at him and bowed politely, saying,

"That's the last of them, Imouku-sama; as long as you don't pull any of them out you should be just fine in a day or two."

The redhead nodded distractedly, already fixated on poking at the stitches, regardless of the pain such action caused him. The medic sighed in an exasperated fashion – he had done this several times already – and gently taking hold of the offending hand, she pulled it away from the just-closed wound in Imouku's side. Said Gijinka blinked up at her with an expression mirroring that of a kicked puppy. The medic only shook her head and pointed at the discarded shirt lying on the table between Imouku and the Tsukaimon Gijinka, raising an eyebrow.

Imouku grumbled to himself, but put the shirt back on – slowly, so as not to aggravate the recently stitched injury. All the while the young Tsukaimon Gijinka watched him worriedly, biting her lip and fighting to keep from crying. At last, when the redhead was once again dressed – albeit in a bloodstained and ripped shirt – the much younger Gijinka threw her arms around Imouku's neck in a child's hug, sobbing.

"Thank you, Imouku-sama," she cried, tears falling freely now from her bright golden eyes, "Thank you, thank you, thank you . . ."

Imouku blinked at her awkwardly, blushed in embarrassment and looked to the medic for help – just because he could handle his Tamers when they got like this didn't mean that he was any more equipped to comfort a total stranger. When the medic didn't look up from the chart she was willing out – what was it with doctors and those things, anyway? – Imouku spoke, doing his best to stop the Tsukaimon Gijinka's tears.

"H-hey, don't cry, kiddo – I didn't do anything, really! There's nothing to cry about!"

"But you did," the Tsukaimon exclaimed, shaking her head so hard that her dark blonde pigtails whipped back and forth. "No-one's ever, ever stood up to Youkano-sama before! Never ever!"

Imouku flinched, not liking the reminder of the earlier encounter. "You mean he really does go around beating on little kids, and no-one's _ever_ tried to stop him?"

Both of the other Gijinka nodded solemnly, and Imouku scowled, trying to find any way to reconcile the half-crazed GranDracmon Gijinka he had encountered earlier to the smiling, loving Sangloupmon Gijinka from his memories. As he thought, the redhead brought a hand up to his face and lightly traced the bruising along his cheekbone that was already becoming very prominent – he was suddenly very, very glad his friends and Tamers weren't here, because he really didn't want them to have to see him with a giant bruise on his face.

It was an unfortunate side-effect of the injuries he'd received that he didn't really remember much of the encounter with his father, just that it had been tense, cold, and that his "father" had gotten angry at the little Tsukaimon child for . . . something really stupid, he couldn't remember what. And just for a second he'd seen Ai in the little Tsukaimon Gijinka's place, and he had acted as best he could, considering the circumstances. But even that was a bit . . . fuzzy. A soft "Ahem," from the medic brought Imouku back to the present and made him realize he'd zoned out for the third time since he'd been brought in.

The Youkomon Gijinka's face was deeply concerned as she spoke to him, apparently repeating herself. "I believe it would be best for you if you got some rest, Imouku-sama. I can arrange assistance for you to get to your quarters if you need –"

"That won't be necessary, Kitsu-san," the sharp, annoying voice of Kiokure said as she entered the room. "Milord wishes to see Imouku-sama immediately, in the library. He wishes to discuss matters of utmost importance." The medic scowled and snapped at the Gazimon, growling slightly.

"There is no way Imouku-sama is up to such a meeting! The only thing he needs right now is to go to his quarters and rest!"

Kiokure rolled her eyes, "Like that matters to _him_," and she spat the name.

Imouku coughed deliberately, annoyed at being ignored, and when he was sure he had both of the older Gijinka's attention, he hopped off the examining table and wobbled unsteadily for a moment, before righting himself. "I don't care whether or not I'm supposed to be resting – I want to see him, too," the redhead said, scowling in a determined (and royally ticked off) manner, tail flicking from side to side irritably. "I've got some things I want to "discuss" with him, too!"

All three other Gijinka in the room turned and stared at Imouku, who didn't look the slightest bit aware of what kind of reaction he was generating. He simply grinned reassuringly at them all and walked out of the room unaided. He had things to discuss with his father all right, and while he might have liked his head to be clearer first, he didn't see the point if it was just going to end up in another beat-down the likes of whatever happened earlier. He wanted answers, and he was going to get them – if the D-Reaper hadn't killed him, there was no way a few little injuries like this would! Without another word, he stalked (or maybe staggered) out of the room, and waited for Kiokure to direct him where to go. It wasn't like he knew the layout of this place, after all. The still-stunned Gazimon Gijinka was quick to scurry out of the medic's office and catch up to him, although she didn't give him any assistance in walking – which was fine with Imouku, because he would only have gotten angry with her if she had.

* * *

When Imouku entered the library following his father's – for, despite the insanity, there really was no use in denying the relation –summons, he was prepared for another attack, and as such was taken totally by surprise when his father swept him up into a hug, showing know memory of their earlier encounter. Imouku was so shocked, in fact, that he simply stood there staring wordlessly up at the older Gijinka for a long moment, only startled out of this state when his father touched – albeit gently – the bruise forming on his face. This caused the redhead to flinch away immediately, and he vaguely heard the concern in Youkano's voice when he asked angrily,

"Who did this to you?!?"

Imouku blinked at his father, barely managing to check himself from blurting out his immediate response of, "You did!" Instead, he remained silent and watched as the Lord of the Citadel's face darkened and twisted with rage.

"_They_ did this, didn't they?!?" The anger in his father's face and voice brought Imouku's mind back to the incident that had taken place earlier in the day, and he flinched back as his father spontaneously threw a teacup he had been holding across the library, and watched with wary eyes as it shattered into powder.

"Uh. . ." he stuttered out, not sure if speaking would really be a good idea at this point or not. Fortunately, it was. The rage fled from his father's features immediately upon hearing this one small sound, and the blonde turned and took Imouku gently by the shoulders, leading the unresisting redhead to a nearby chair and sitting him down.

"Well, you don't have to worry any more, my son. Those humans and their Digimon friends will never hurt you again," the GranDracmon Gijinka said, still looking rather angry.

A little-used self-preservation instinct of Imouku's kept him from opening his big mouth to defend his Tamers and friends. His father, not knowing his son's usual loudmouth nature, didn't notice the unusual behavior. Instead, he simply checked Imouku over with a worried frown and took in the tear in his clothing. Imouku stared at him with wide eyes, confused as to what, exactly, the Lord of the Citadel was doing.

He said as much.

"What are you doing. .. father?" He asked, hesitantly adding the title to the end of his question. Youkano blinked at him and simply said,

"You need more suitable clothing."

Again, Imouku was confused. Sure, his shirt was ripped, but it wasn't like he couldn't fix it once he'd rested. It was a part of his data, after all. Other than the rips, he thought his clothes were fantastic – and well they should be since he'd designed them himself not very long ago! The blonde Gijinka's next statement cleared up any confusion Imouku held, though, as he said, "These are entirely inappropriate for your station." As he spoke, Youkano's hands remained on Imouku's shoulders, and the redhead tried very hard not to squeak as he felt the strange sensation of someone else manipulating his data since – not counting Zhuquiaomon – he had been a toddler.

When the sensation faded and Imouku realized what he was now wearing, he couldn't keep the irritated, well, he wasn't going to admit it as such but it was definitely a pout, off of his face. He was tired, hurt, and he did _not_ care much for clothing that made him look like some prince out of Ai's fairy tale stories! The clothing was way too dignified-looking and regal for his tastes, and he would have said so were the strange self-preservation instinct not still sealing his mouth shut. Luckily for him, his father only looked satisfied and chuckled at the expression on the redhead's face.

"Much better," he said, sounding pleased with himself while gently tugging Imouku to his feet. Then the Lord of the Citadel turned to two Gijinka whom Imouku hadn't noticed standing in two of the corners of the room, and spoke again. "Take my son to his new quarters and provide him with some alternate clothes for sleeping – then make certain that he remains undisturbed until he asks for assistance." Imouku blinked again, his tired and concussed brain trying to sort out what was going on – and struggling desperately to remember what he had been so determined to talk to his father about when he'd first come to the Citadel. The expression on his face caused his father to laugh again, and his expression was almost identical to the face in Imouku's memories as he said, "You need to sleep, Imouku. And you're going to, as soon as you let these two help you to your rooms."

Imouku was only too willing to leave his father's presence. He knew that there was _something_ he desperately needed to talk to him about, but between his fatigue and the headache he was suffering he just couldn't seem to remember what exactly that was. So he rather peacefully followed the two Gijinka – his mind was too fuzzy to identify their species – out of the library and through the maze of corridors. By the time they stopped in font of a massive door that apparently led to his new rooms, the two Gijinka were nearly carrying him.

Upon entering his new rooms and seeing the large, exceedingly comfortable bed, Imouku's brain had all but shut down. As such, he really didn't remember anything from entering the room until he woke up a great deal of time later. Sometime between those two points he must have changed (or been changed, how embarrassing!) into sleeping clothes that had been laid out for him and gotten into the bed, but he had no memory of doing so. All things considered, he slept rather well.

* * *

When Imouku woke, he woke up both confused and starving. Where was he? What had happened? And most importantly of all, where could he get something to _eat_? Then, as he gradually became more aware of himself and what had happened – along with the aches and pains in his body, he found his questions being answered in his own mind. And for some reason, his appetite decreased to a mere echo of what it had been when he first woke. Something about the recent events was making him a little nauseated.

Could it be the fact that his father was apparently insane?

Quite possibly.

Still, despite a growing longing to hide himself away in the bed and never resurface again, Imouku dragged himself up and, realizing the pajamas he wore were actually a set of clothing that was not a part of his data make-up, looked around for "his" clothes – and scowled at what he saw. Laid out neatly before him was the product of his father's meddling the (he supposed) day before. The white shirt alone would have annoyed him, with its many layers of ruffles down the front and "flowy" sleeves; but when you added that to the heavy-looking thankfully purple) goat with gold fastenings and the – oh, Ai would _love_ this – _crown_, Imouku decided he would almost prefer to simply go around naked. At least the pants were acceptable, if plainer than his usual tastes – he supposed it was to make up for the hideousness of the rest of the outfit. The boots were much the same. Worst of all, though, there were no gloves in sight.

Imouku loved his gloves. He _needed_ his gloves. And, even as he tried valiantly to alter the outfit just enough to give him said gloves, he continuously failed. Apparently his father had expected him to dislike his new wardrobe and had locked it into that form. So it was either wear the pajamas – which felt strange to him since they weren't a part of him; it was an uncomfortable feeling, honestly – or the frilly, prissy clothes.

Not much of a choice really.

Ten minutes later, Imouku was inspecting himself in the mirror with a scowl. Luckily for him, the bruise on his face was starting to fade already – it would be gone before any of the Tamers showed up, of that much he was certain. Still, right now it matched his new jacket perfectly. After another few minutes of inspecting his appearance, Imouku decided it was time to satisfy his stomach, at least a little bit – though his appetite was greatly decreased as he thought about his father's insanity and obvious hatred of humans and Digimon alike. He just didn't understand; what in the world could have happened to his father to have turned him into such a, well, monster?

He knew that the desire for power could drive you insane; he'd experienced that firsthand – but it seemed like something different was at work in his father's twisted mind. And deep down inside of his mind, a part of him recognized something that he wouldn't consciously realize until later – that his father's hatred of humans would eventually lead him to try and hurt his Tamers, and he would have to do something about it. He wasn't quite ready to face that fact just yet, though, and so simply pushed it to the back of his mind for now.

Feeling much better except for the still-aching bruise and cut on his side, as well as the persistent gnawing of his stomach, Imouku set out to explore. At the moment he limited himself to the immediate area, and quickly found out that he not only had the bedroom he had slept in, there was a series of small doors that lead to a miniature library (blech, like he'd _ever_ use that), a bathroom, a private dining room – how that was supposed to work he didn't know, and decided he'd get back to it later – and lastly, a set of doors that led out onto a balcony, giving him an excellent view of the plane the Citadel was located on.

As Imouku stepped out onto the balcony, he saw something very interesting – the plane that had seemed to be a featureless land of nothing but grass and sky when Imouku had traveled it to get to the Citadel was now dotted here and there with either very small lakes or very large ponds, accompanied by several good-sized orchards. All in all, it seemed to be a very comfortable place – for the moment. Imouku vaguely recalled the Combat Master saying something about plane's state depending entirely on the Citadel's Lord – his father. Apparently he was in good mood right now, then.

The redhead looked out over the plane for a few minutes, and blinked when he realized that there were Gijinka by the dozens spread out along the shores of the lake-ponds and gathered in groups among the orchards. They were working, gathering water and fruit, and though they were in hurry they seemed relatively happy, as far as Imouku could tell. It was then that a thought struck Imouku, one that left a slightly bitter taste in his mouth and decreased his appetite even further.

'_If it wasn't for my father, they're be completely safe here. . .'_

He leaned over the ledge of the balcony, trying to see how high up in the citadel his rooms were located, and when he was bent nearly double over the railing realized that he was very high up, indeed. He quickly leaned back to his original position, breathing rapidly – he had no desire to fall _that_ far, thank you very much! Idly, the thought crossed his mind that Hirokazu must be somewhere in the Citadel, and he winced. If nothing else, he should at least get the Tamer out of here, where his life was so clearly in danger. With that thought in mind, his appetite completely left him and he took off at a dead run out of his rooms and through the twisting corridors. He wasn't sure where to go, but guessed that if he headed down, he would eventually find the annoying tamer.

Surprisingly, he didn't have to look for very long before he got a clue to the human's whereabouts – he just had to follow the sound of the terrible singing h heard rising up from the depths of the Citadel. After all, he'd know that voice anywhere – there was only one being in the worlds (except perhaps a drunk Gekomon) who would take a girlie J-Pop song and mangle it horribly, clearly with the sole intent of annoying someone.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't stop singing any time soon!" Imouku said, voicing his thoughts aloud as he ran through the corridors, ignoring the pain in his side from the steadily healing cut. The Citadel seemed to be virtually empty, perhaps because most of the Gijinka were out gathering food from the orchards that had sprung up – if this plane was as flexible as the Combat Master had said, those orchards could disappear at any time. Gradually, the detestable singing grew louder and louder as Imouku followed it through the Citadel, until finally Imouku stopped just outside of a sinister-looking door.

I was a deep ebony color and opened through handles that looked like they were made of bone. There was also the requisite barred window. It made Imouku want to gag – and did make him sweatdrop.

"Nice decorating job you did, Father," he muttered sarcastically as he tugged open the door and drudged don the much-darker hall – only to be virtually tackled by a frantic-looking Elecmon Gijinka. Imouku grunted with pain as Shurikasa crashed into him and started shaking him, he eyes wide with suffering and a fair amount of insanity.

"It's you, it's you," she yelped out. The Gijinka scout looked like she'd seen better days; her hair looked like she'd been actively trying to pull it out, and her clothing was torn in several places. "Please, _please_ tell me you're getting him away from me! _Please_," she begged, tears falling from her panicked eyes as she continued to shake the hapless redhead she'd crashed into. Imouku grimaced and pushed her away from him, wincing.

"Get away from me, would you, crazy lady? You _stink_," he muttered, covering his nose with his right arm. The Elecmon Gijinka really did smell rather terrible. Imouku grimaced and tried to push past the crazy girl so he could get to the human he could hear singing loudly just down the hall. Then he paused as a thought struck him, and he glanced at Shurikasa. "You want to get him out of here?" He asked, his eyes narrowing as he thought. Upon seeing the other Gijinka's rapid nodding, he grinned. "Then you take him out of here and send him back to his friends – I'll even take the blame for his 'escape'."

The blue-haired Gijinka's eyes widened – she realized more than Imouku did what taking the blame for something – especially something as big as the escape of a _human_ – really meant. Without another word she turned and went down the hall, stopping somewhere just out of sight – presumably at Hirokazu's location. Imouku remained where he was, and gave an audible sigh of relief when the horrible singing stopped at long last. If he ever had to hear "Step You" again it would be much, much too soon.

Moments later, Shurikasa appeared again, dragging a gagged Hirokazu towards the redhead. Imouku scowled at her even as he privately thought that the gag was a pretty good idea – it stopped the horrible singing, after all. Shurikasa saw Imouku's scowl, and tugged Hirokazu forward hard enough that the human boy stumbled and would have fallen to the ground if not for her grip on him. Her eyes narrowed and took on that slightly-insane look again as she said,

"If I have to take this annoying brat back to your little friends and leave him _alive_, the gag's going to stay."

Imouku growled lowly at her and replied, "You'd better not hurt him, either, or when you get there you're going to have some _really_ angry Ultimates out for your blood."

Hirokazu jumped when he heard Imouku's voice, and the Tamer's eyes widened as he started flailing around, desperately trying to say something around the gag in his mouth. Shurikasa's face took on an annoyed expression and she went to backhand him, only stopped by Imouku grabbing her wrist and baring his teeth at her. Ignoring the Elecmon Gijinka and her slight flinching from his actions, Imouku glared directly into the human's eyes and spoke in a low voice. "Yes, it's me, yes, I'm a Gijinka, no, I'm _not_ helping out the "bad guys" and you'd better behave on the way back to the village where everybody else is because I don't think Miss Fuzzy here has much patience left." He paused for a second and lowered his gaze, then looked at the human again with a sad but determined expression. "And tell Ai and Makoto that I'm sorry but I had to know," he added almost as an afterthought. Then he dropped Shurikasa's wrist and nodded, glaring daggers at her. "Get him to the Village – _yesterday_."

Shurikasa looked miffed, but nodded and said nothing, instead simply forcing Hirokazu to walk down the hall and towards the exit of the Citadel.

* * *

Anyone who walked into the Gijinka Village on the morning after Imouku arrived at the Citadel would have found it greatly changed from what it had been just a few days before. Realizing that war was coming to his people sooner rather than later, and that the Tamers would stop at nothing to get their friends back – for despite the Shaujinmon Gijinka's warnings, the close-knit group was determined to safely retrieve not only the human member of their team, but the Gijinka as well – Combat Master Garundo had been forced to change the Village from a peaceful refuge to an impromptu training camp. Nearly all able-bodied Gijinka were being prepared for the inevitable and rapidly approaching battle, while the remainder were tasked with preparing the young and frail for an evacuation. The Combat Master was no fool, and knew that should the upcoming fight go badly, none of the Villagers would be spared; not even the youngest Gijinka.

As for the tamers, they found themselves working harder than they had since the D-Reaper; even Shuichon, Lopmon, Kenta and MarineAngemon were getting a workout, just in case. They would be going with the evacuees, but Garundo was taking no chances. The twins were supposed to be going with them, but they continuously refused to go. After all, one of the friends that needed rescue was their partner, and they weren't going to just leave him. The other Tamers agreed; Ai and Makoto were their best shot at getting through to the redheaded Gijinka. None of the others, save maybe Reisei, were close enough to him to sway him from the Citadel if that was what needed to be done.

Still, none of the Village's residents were prepared for the entry of one well-known Citadel scout, dragging a very-obviously human boy with her, a slightly manic look in her eyes. The human and Gijinka both looked rather the worse for wear, although Hirokazu's eyes shown with fear rather than madness. The captor and captive were immediately surrounded by some of Garundo's best fighters – and the Tamers, who, while shocked by both Hirokazu's reappearance and his condition – spending all this time in a dungeon wasn't good on anyone -, were ready for anything that might happen. Guardromon was there as well, clearly wanting to step in and save his Tamer, but unable to do so with the grip the Elecmon Gijinka had on the human. Shurikasa grinned at the motley collection of humans, and tossed Hirokazu toward the Combat Master.

"A present from Imouku-sama," she said, grinning madly. "You get to keep him, I get to avoid his horrible singing, and Imouku-sama gets to be the one to face his dear daddy's wrath!" Even as the tamers gasped in a collective shocked breath – with the exceptions of Reisei, who already knew, Guardromon, who was too focused on his tamer to think of anything else, and Hirokazu, who was preoccupied with flying through the air – at the comment. Garundo easily caught the boy, who looked like he was very much in need of a rest, a bath, and perhaps some food, and passed him to one of the BlackGarurumon twins.

"Take him and his partner to the healer's; Elsara will take care of him." Immediately, the Shaujinmon turned his attention back to Shurikasa, and his eyes narrowed while he looked her over. "What has the Citadel done to you, that it has left you like this, Shurikasa?" He asked, concern and pity coloring his tone. Sighing, he shook his head. The Village didn't keep prisoners, and he wouldn't kill this pathetic, half-insane shamble of a Gijinka. "Let her go," the leader of the Village said, closing his eyes and bowing his head. Almost immediately he heard the sound of her bare feet slapping the earth as she took off.

The Tamers speculated among themselves for several minutes, but it was Ai who approached the Combat Master and quietly tugged on his hand.

"Combat Master-san? Is what the crazy lady said true? Is Im-chan's daddy there? Is he gonna hurt him?"

Garundo's eyes opened and he looked down at the little human girl and her brother, who had followed her to his side, and stared into their pleading, tearful eyes. Makoto bit his lip, and echoed his sister's plaintive inquiries with one of his own.

"Is Im-chan's daddy the bad guy?"

The Combat Master wished that he could tell them anything other than what they expected to hear - anything at all, but he could tell that they wouldn't accept anything less than the truth. And they didn't deserve anything less.

"Yes, children. Your partner's father is the Lord of the Citadel bent on destroying your world . . . as for hurting him, he already has." He turned away then so that he wouldn't have to see the increased pain in their eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you anything different, children." The village returned to its mobilizing; however the Tamers and their partners remained clustered together, talking together about the information they had just learned. It explained a lot, but also brought them more confusion. Was Imouku still loyal to them? Had he betrayed them again, this time for his family instead of power? There were many questions, but no-one had any answers. Reisei admitted quietly that she had known for some time, and told her friends and Tamer all that she knew. In the end, they decided to trust in Imouku's bond with the twins and continue with their original goal, narrowing it down to rescuing _him_ – especially when Reisei impressed upon him the dangerous situation the redhead was truly in.

And, in the midst of everything, somehow a single Dorimon toddler slipped past his caretakers and the guards, using his unique ability to get away without being seen. He followed Shurikasa to the Village gates, and then through the portal she made to the Citadel. Haseo was going to find his purple-red friend. This one decision, made on impulse by a toddler who didn't know any better, would be the trigger to many events that would haunt Imouku's nightmares for years to come.

* * *

Imouku didn't know what to expect when he was called to the library again, mere moments after getting Shurikasa and Hirokazu out of the Citadel. He hadn't even had time to go and find food before the summons arrived, courtesy of a timid blond Gijinka who, for some reason, was in his human form. Would his father be angry? Or disturbingly parental like he had the last time he'd seen him? He got his answer almost immediately as the doors to the room close behind him and a hand closed around his throat, lifting him from his feet, and he gazed into the incensed eyes of the GranDracmon Gijinka, who growled at him lowly and ignored the choked sounds the redhead emitted as he clawed for air.

"_What did you think you were doing, setting that human free?!?"_ Youkano screamed at him, hissing at him and then tossing him away roughly, ignorant of the terror and pain he was causing his only child. Imouku scrambled away, trying to clear the burning feeling from his windpipe as he coughed. He hadn't gotten very far when his father grabbed the back of that _infernal_ jacket he'd stuck him in and hauled him back to him, at least not choking him this time. "_Did you forget that humans are our enemies?!?_" His father roared, dragging him to face him again, only there wasn't a single ounce of his father in his appearance – no, there was only a monster who vaguely resembled his parent. This alone gave Imouku the strength to shake off his growing terror, and spit in the face of the one who'd sired him.

"The humans are _your_ enemies! They're _my_ friends!" He gasped out in a voice raspy from having just been choked. He couldn't have known that this was the exact worst thing he could have told the Gijinka in front of him as he was suddenly tossed away again, this time smacking against a bookshelf and tearing the stitches from the wound in his side, opening it anew. Imouku gasped and brought his hands to the injury. In a somewhat distracted manner, he realized he was shaking as his father advanced upon him once again.

"So you still labor under the mistaken belief that those _creatures,_" Youkano spat out, albeit in an eerily calm voice, "would ever consider you a _friend_, do you?" Green eyes filled with madness flashed at him, and Imouku wondered distractedly if this was how those Digimon he had deleted felt, starting into the maddened eyes of their killer – but no, no, his eyes had been red then, red with corruption, his father's were still green, green fire, green emeralds that stared him down and bore into his mind, pulling, tearing, shredding to find what he wanted to destroy it, twist it to what he wanted. Imouku screamed, his bloody hands to his head as the pain of having his mind torn apart bore down upon him, shredding everything that held him together, everything that made him whole – but even as he screamed, he fought back, forced the monster-with-his-father's-face out, out, away from his mind it was _his_ mind not his father's!

Images flashed through his tormented mind, fact combined with fiction – Ai and Makoto using him in a tug-of-war, Dukemon defeating him, Juri rejecting his help, pictures of Ai and Mako celebrating his absence, Dukemon, Sakuyamon, and SaintGalgomon watching him plunge to his death, saying "Good riddance," as he fell, Juri denying him forgiveness as he begged and pleaded on his knees before her. Image after image flashed through his pained mind, so many that he couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't any longer, and there was so much pain, so much, so much that he couldn't fight it, couldn't break free – and then voices, a cooling sensation against the burning of the images:

"_**You're our friend Impmon-chan!"**_

"_**Come home safe!"**_

"_**I forgive you . . ."**_

He focused on those sounds, ignoring the pain and the images, the painful memories and the fictitious betrayals, using them as his anchor to what he knew was real and what was right in his world, until finally, finally, the assault on his sanity ceased and he was left a shuddering, quivering mess lying on the floor of the Citadel's library with the smell of his own blood in his nostrils and the sound of his own hoarse, panicked breathing in his ears. He lay there for an undetermined amount of time, simply trying to gather himself, to remember where he was, who he was, to try and piece the broken puzzle his mind had become back together and patch it as best he could, while all the while the Citadel's ruler watched him, the insane light never once leaving his eyes. Finally, the GranDracmon Gijinka spoke again.

"Do you see now, my son? Placing your trust in these humans has brought and will continue to bring you only pain!"

Imouku shuddered, picked his head up from where he was lying, sprawled on the floor, and panted, locking eyes with the monster again, and he shook his head.

"The. . . the only thing I . .. I see . . . hurting me is. . . . is _you_. . ." He coughed out hoarsely, a spark of defiance flickering in his eyes, hard emeralds like his father's, only without the insanity. "You . . . . are the . . . .the only one I .. . .I can't . . . . can't trust," he said, collapsing back to the floor, his strength spent. Luckily, he was saved from more of his father's rage, as the GranDracmon Gijinka simply stormed out of the library instead of further attacking him. Imouku lay still, having no strength left to rise, no strength left to fight. . . He closed his eyes, hoping against hope that when he awoke again, it would be to find that this had all just been some sort of bizarre nightmare.

Yet even with his last conscious thoughts, he knew that what had just happened was far, far too real.

**-TBC-**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **Aaaaaah, I'm so sorry for the wait everyone! D: College ate my life, then writer's block ate my mind, then college ate it again! Finally, however, I am proud to present to you chapter eleven of my little story. I'd like to say that there's a few warnings associated with this chapter - hence the upped rating. If you're reading this chapter, then you know what happened at the end of chapter ten. Without giving too much away, be warned that it gets worse in this. A lot worse. And Imouku... well, you'll see.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything that is even vaguely recognizable as Toei Animation's series, though some of the more out there stuff came straight out of my little head. Also, I do not, in ANY form, condone violence, especially against children of any age.

* * *

**The Last of the Gijinka**

**Chapter Eleven**

"Mmff, oh, this is good, mmm," the words were half-intelligible and mostly muffled by the speaker's constantly stuffing food in his face like a starving person – which, in the case, he came close enough that no-one minded. Having Hirokazu back in their midst was a relief to the Tamers, if only partially so since they'd lost anther friend in the process. It was already almost as if the boy had never left, and certain people's indulgent patience was fading, and rapidly. Not to name names, but a certain redheaded girl was beginning to develop a rather prominent facial tic as she and the rest of the Tamers – plus the Combat Master – stood around waiting for Hirokazu to talk about what had happened, and in the meantime watching him stuff his face.

Losing her patience at last, Ruki slammed her hands down on the table, leaning imposingly over the suddenly stock-still Hirokazu, who had his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Ruki scowled at him and growled lowly.

"Look, Hirokazu, we know you're hungry, but can you stop eating for _five minutes_ to tell us what exactly is going on? You were at that place for almost a week, surely you can tell us _something_!"

Hirokazu swallowed and blinked up at the Digimon Queen, suddenly remembering just how scary she could be when she wasn't happy – and right now, she clearly wasn't happy. He blinked a little and shrugged. "What's there to tell? I was locked up in some creepy horror movie dungeon for most of a week and then got dumped here." He paused for a moment and then pointed a chopstick at the twins. "They know Impmon's one of them, yet? He was all dressed up like some kind of prince or something, if that was really him, he sure acted like him." He blinked at the stares he received from everyone around him. "What? What did I say?"

The twins bit their lips, and Ai looked like she wanted to speak, but surprisingly, Renamon spoke first. "Was he well?"

Hirokazu blinked. "Um, yeah . . . come to think of it though, he kind of had a bruise on his face, and was walking like his stomach hurt or something . . ."

Renamon and the Combat Master exchanged a glance. The Digimon-form Gijinka's ears flattened and she gazed seriously at her superior, concern and a sense of resignation emanating from her bright blue eyes. "It's begun, then," she said quietly, and received a nod in response. The tamers all exchanged a glance between themselves – minus Hirokazu who was stuffing his face again. - and looked to Garundo and Renamon. The questions were varied, and voiced at different moments, but all essentially boiled down to two basic inquiries:

"What's begun? What's going on?"

Renamon glanced at the Combat Master again, silently asking for permission. At his nod, she turned to face the rest of her group, though her eyes were squarely on the twins as she spoke.

"I believe it's time we all knew exactly what it is that we're facing . . . and who we might be forced to fight." The twins gulped, knowing exactly what she meant by that – somehow, their Im-chan might wind up an enemy. Neither of the two children understood how that could ever happen – Im-chan would never betray them, after all! – but couldn't deny the meaning of Renamon's words. They could only wait, and hope, that an explanation would be forthcoming, one that would make everything make sense and tell them how they could fix everything.

Unfortunately, they weren't to get that explanation, and a Tailmon Gijinka barreled her way at top speed up to the group, wrapping her arms around the combat master and wailing a nearly-incoherent "Haseo's gone!" This stopped the explanation cold in its tracks, as Garundo took the distraught Gijinka into his arms and looked in her bright blue eyes, prompting another trembling sob from the delicate-looking, pale-skinned woman. "He – he was supposed to be with the other children, evacuated safely – but – but he's not, and no-one knows where he is – I – Garundo, what if they _took _him?!?" Garundo's eyes narrowed, taking on a suspicious sheen as he tightened his hug, supporting the Tailmon Gijinka and keeping her from falling over. The Combat master's expression was somewhere between rage and heartbreak, and he looked to the Tamers.

"Children, I hate to thrust this upon you so soon, but search the village for my child – if you find him, bring him back immediately!" Then he paused and turned to the Garurumon twins, frowning at them. "You two," he barked, the barest trace of an angry hiss in his voice. "Go find Kiokure. _Now._" If he had any suspicions of what had happened to the Dorimon Gijinka, he didn't let any sign of it show on his face. Garundo was a leader, after all, and leaders had to be able to stand strong in the face of just about anything.

Even when facing the potential loss of his only child.

* * *

'_This is beginning to get ridiculous,'_ Imouku thought to himself as he returned to consciousness for the third time in as many days. The redhead was beginning to look the worse for wear, as his father alternated ignoring him with summoning him and trying to convince him of the evils of the humans and Digimon, and how all of them deserved to be wiped off the face of the planet. These attempts at convincing ran the gamut from trying to twist Imouku's memories to outright harming him. Unfortunately for Youkano, and perhaps Imouku as well, the Impmon Gijinka had a stronger mind and will than even the Ultimate could deal with, and such sessions inevitably wound up with Imouku passing out rather than turning on his friends. He hadn't even been given food for the last two days, and the harsh treatment he was receiving was beginning to wear him down.

Stubbornness only got one so far, after all. It was only a matter of time before he became broken down, as much or more broken than the rest of the Gijinka in this place, and he knew it. As much as he hated to admit it, Imouku knew that he was weaker than his father, especially so when locked away from his Digimon form; - locked away from his only chance at evolution. He had to put his hopes in the rest of the Tamers – but then, maybe they left as soon as they had Hirokazu? He was hardly as dear a friend to them as another _human _would be, after all, or even one of their digital sla – wait, he hadn't meant that thought! He hadn't! Shuddering, Imouku pushed himself to a sitting position, noticing idly that he was back in his bedchamber, tucked comfortably in bed with his injuries bound once again.

He hadn't meant that thought! He hadn't even intended to think it! Where had it come from?!? Green eyes closed as the Impmon Gijinka groaned in frustration, rubbing at his face and wincing at the bruises that were ever so evident there. It seemed that whatever his father was doing to him when he pushed past his mental shields was starting to take hold. Imouku didn't _want _to be thinking that kind of thing; he knew where those thoughts led, after all. He'd been down that road before, and he didn't like where it wound up taking him. But, it was true, wasn't it? They hadn't shown up; guns blazing – he'd been left here to rot at his father's cruel hands.

Or was he being cruel in order to knock sense into him?

Was his father right after all?

"_NO!"_

The redhead blinked and flushed in embarrassment when he realized that he had spoken out loud. Or rather, screamed, because spoken didn't cover the earsplitting volume at which the single-syllable word was pronounced. Glancing around to make sure no one had heard, the redhead's green eyes locked onto a pair of chocolate brown ones, as with a giggle, Haseo the Dorimon Gijinka jumped up on the bed and crawled over to Imouku, wrapping him in a baby hug. Imouku blinked, his eyes widening as he pushed the toddler away a bit – no matter how gentle, that hug _hurt_ right now. "Oi – h-hey, kid, what are you doing here?!?" He hissed, panic seeping into his voice. This kid didn't belong here; he was less safe here than Imouku even was. "You're supposed to be back at the village!"

Haseo blinked and tugged at Imouku's hair, then spoke for the first time since the redhead had met him. "Wan'ed t' see you," he said simply, his voice accompanied by a toddler's lisp as he beamed a happy grin at the older Gijinka. "So's I came!" He chirped, then started to play with his fingers while he watched Imouku, who simply gaped at him for a long moment before biting his lip, and clinging to the child with more strength than he thought he had left in him. Here was his anchor to reality. His father couldn't be right; there were children and babies back in the village! Children of his _own kind_ whom his father wanted dead! So the Ultimate had to be out of his mind – only someone who was crazy would target such little kids – he knew this, because he'd been one himself once.

It took a mind really out of touch with reality to want to hurt a kid as young as Haseo. So he really had no reason to believe anything that his father had told him. His friends _would _come! They'd come and show his crazy psychopath of a father what happened when you tried to mess with the worlds! He released the now-wriggling toddler as he realized that he'd hugged him just a little too tightly, judging by the annoyed pouty-face that was being shot his way.

"Sorry, kiddo," he said, and would have spoken more had there not been a sound at the door. Imouku's eyes widened and he hissed, scooping Haseo up and shoving him roughly under the bed. "Stay put!" He growled lowly, unaware of how his green eyes flashed. "You can't be seen here!" Haseo nodded, and only then did the redhead notice just how much pain the rapid movement had caused him.

Struggling to his feet with a wince, Imouku adjusted the clothing he wore, and looked up at the doorway, where a guard poked his head in. The Bullmon Gijinka snorted and gestured at Imouku, not needing to say a word. The redhead already knew the drill by now. His father wanted to see him again. Maybe this time he'd come back without injury? _'Wishful thinking,'_ he meant to himself, and resisted looking back under the bed where Haseo lay, not wanting to draw attention to the toddler. _'Stay put, stay safe,'_ he thought in the general direction of the toddler, not realizing that the blue-haired Gijinka child was as stubborn as he himself, and was already edging out of the bed, ready and waiting to follow him to wherever he was going now.

* * *

"Oh, Ani," Youkano murmured as he stroked the face of his beloved, the slight pulse of her essence within it reaching out and comforting his ravaged mind. "I couldn't save you, my love. . . and I'm losing our son. What am I supposed to do?" The GranDracmon Gijinka whispered to himself, tears in his bright green eyes. His wife's expression didn't change, her painted features still staring adoringly down at the tiny form of her toddler son, who grinned up at her with an innocent, excited baby smile. But Youkano convinced himself that he saw a flash of life in those golden eyes, an expression that he hadn't seen since the days before their marriage, back when they were children – a mixture of disappointment and anger, almost with a touch of hatred.

"_Your losing him is your doing, no-one else's,"_ those eyes seemed to say, and the smile seemed to fade away into a frown that bordered on a snarl, and to Youkano's eyes the infant in her arms changed to a broken shell of a teenager, battered and bruised, whose hollow eyes stared out at him with a dead expression; the blonde Gijinka recoiled and let out a low hiss, shaking his head as he tried to deny what the voice in his head was telling him.

"No, no – you've got it wrong, Ani! I'm trying to save him! Save him from the corruption those – those _abominations_ have put him through!"

Now the portrait _did_ seem to snarl, and for a moment Youkano thought that Anikana was going to come straight out of the portrait and claw his eyes out. _"Listen to yourself, Youkano! This isn't you - _ _you sound like your _brother! _Is this what you want?!? To destroy what's left of our family and the worlds with it?!? This is how you honor my memory?!?" _

"You don't know the half of it!" Youkano growled, throwing a book down on the floor with a thud. "YOU KNOW NOTHING! I FAILED YOU!" He yelled, and clutched at his head in agony, as spears of pain shot through his skull. In his mind's eye, the portrait wilted and rocked her child with a tear-filled expression.

"_You never failed me, Youkano. . . but you're failing _him._" _And the eyes of the portrait dropped to the boy in her arms, and then to a space behind Youkano. Turning, the Ultimate just caught the portrait out off the corner of his eyes before he saw the battered form of his son in front of him – a weary, resigned look in the green eyes that stared at him. Not quite the dead expression that he had last seen in the portrait, but getting there – underneath it though, was a spark of defiance, a spark that was so much like – like – and rage filled him again, and he lost reason as he sought to tear down the insolent brat's defenses, to remove that spark, to squelch it and destroy it, come what may for breaking it out of the child!

Imouku had entered the library on shaky feet, having heard his father shout at nothing as he walked through the door. Once again, the blonde Gijinka was staring at the portrait of his mother, although this time he seemed to be holding a conversation with the unmoving piece of artwork. When his father turned to look at him, Imouku thought he saw – just for a second – a flash of the man he remembered as his father, the man who he had long thought dead; but then it was gone, and all that was there was the insanity again. The insanity, and the _rage_, and then there was nothing around him but pain as he crumpled to the floor, holding his head while images ripped through his mind once again, over and over and over and over, until he could no longer tell the real from the false and he was left a confused, muddled heap on the flo –

"Stoppit! STOPPIT MEANIE!"

'_Oh, sh-'_ came Imouku's half-formed thought, as the little toddler growled and dropped into an attack stance, before charging at the Ultimate Digimon, yelling "Metal Drop!" as he spat a ball of something metallic and shiny at the GranDracmon – who just batted the ball away and growled.

"Well, if it isn't the Combat Master's own son. How did you get in here, little one?" Youkano asked, almost purring as Imouku struggled to his feet, reaching out to the toddler. The Impmon Gijinka muttered a curse under his breath as he struggled to piece his mind back together, at least enough to defend the child that was staring his death straight in the face. Youkano looked far too pleased by the presence of the toddler, and it set off multiple alarm bells in the redhead's mind – now if only he could clear his head enough to figure out _why. . ._ "As unshakable as your father, I see," Youkano continued, almost conversationally. "And far too good at escaping the people I had sent to kill you. Kiokure was one of my best, and yet you constantly escaped her," he added, ignoring the outraged intake of breath from Imouku.

Haseo only blinked and looked up at Youkano, uncomprehending. Finally he nodded and jabbed a finger at the ultimate, sticking his other hand in his mouth to suck on it. "BAD man," he said around his fist, causing the GranDracmon to burst out laughing – a laugh that made Imouku tense; a dangerous laugh, a sadistic one, and the redhead knew that Haseo would never be in more danger at any point of his young life. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself forward, and tugged Haseo behind him.

"Don't. . . don't hurt him," he said, cursing his voice for being shaky and barely above a whisper in volume. Inwardly, he crossed his fingers and hoped he could get his father to focus on him again, and give the toddler a chance to get out of there. Oblivious to the danger, Haseo grabbed Imouku's hand and continued sucking on his fist, staring at the Lord of the Citadel with bright chocolate eyes that held no fear, only anger and curiosity.

* * *

It was official – there was no sign of Haseo anywhere within the Village. The general consensus seemed to be that the toddler was dead, something that shook and disturbed the Tamers and their partners, but not so much so as the resigned way most of the Gijinka took it, as if it was just another fact of life, like impending nightfall. It seemed as if they didn't have any sympathy for the poor Tailmon, Garundo's wife Shina, who had been in hysterics ever since the search turned up empty for either Haseo or his suspected murderer. It was only when Reisei took the children aside and gently explained to them that such killings had become almost routine for the people of this village that they began to understand.

Preparations for the upcoming war continued, albeit with a more urgent nature as the word of a strike force being formed to try and storm the citadel made the rounds of the warriors. The Tamers were even participating in combat drills, both while BioMerged and on their own – for, as Garundo had pointed out, there was always the chance of the BioMerge coming undone in the middle of battle, and the children were a liability without the ability to even dodge attacks. If they were going in, they were going to go in as prepared as possible. Unfortunately, most of the children were exactly that – children. Among them, only Ruki, Jenrya, and Ryo showed any propensity for combat on their own, and even they were well below the skill and power level of the youngest Gijinka warriors. If it weren't for their skill while BioMerged, Garundo wouldn't have let them even approach the battlefield.

However, when they were BioMerged with their partners, the Tamers were the strongest warriors the Village could muster up at this point in time. When going up against an Ultimate who had control over every inch of the miniature dimension they would be entering, the more power they had at their backs the better. Besides, not even the Combat Master could stand up to the Citadel's Lord – they would be hard pressed to hold him back, let alone with the small army that he had been organizing all of this time.

"Go fight win, go fight win!" Cheered the unflappable duo of Hirokazu and Kenta, accompanied by their partners – though Guardromon looked a bit silly trying to wave around impromptu pom-poms. The miniature ones MarineAngemon held, however, were adorable. The duo cheered their friends as Ruki ducked under a punch thrown by Reisei, the top of it just barely clipping the edge of her ponytail. Off to the side a few feet, Jenrya dodged a flying kick from an increasingly annoyed PicoDevimon Gijinka, and Takato was knocked sprawling by an overexcited Floramon Gijinka, who blushed as she went to help him to his feet.

Shuichon sat off to the side with Shina, having decided that the Tailmon needed lots of attention to feel better, and sat down facing her while hugging Lopmon. The little girl chattered on aimlessly about nothing while she tied and untied her partner's ears into a bow. Ai and Makoto sat with her, though they tried actively reassuring the parent. Ai patted the Tailmon's arm, while Makoto tried to offer her a cookie.

"It'll be okay, Shina-san," Ai said, echoed by her brother, who added,

"Yeah, Haseo-chan will be just fine! Im-chan's gonna take good care of him!" Neither of the twins understood why this caused the Gijinka woman to break down into tears again. A shadow fell over the little gathering, and Garundo knelt down beside his wife, a grave expression on his face as he looked around, dropping his head in frustration when he saw the cheering squad.

"All of you were supposed to be evacuated by now," he grumbled mildly, but didn't seem hard-pressed to enforce that decision, as instead he took his wife's hand, staring into her blue eyes for a long moment. A silent conversation seemed to pass between them, and she nodded once before he rose to his feet and went over to the combat grounds, thumping the ground once with the end of his stave. Nearly everyone came to an instant halt at the resounding 'crack' of staff meeting soil – a few of the younger combatants, including Takato and the PicoDevimon Gijinka, took a moment to notice the command before turning to look at the Combat Master, sensing that something very important was about to be decided.

Garundo took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. "I'm sure you all have been wondering when the strike force that has been talked about will be moving out," he said, opening his eyes again and causing many of the Gijinka and Tamers to step back at the raw rage and pain in his expression. Hirokazu gulped and exchanged a look with Kenta. The bespectacled boy scrubbed at his glasses, an embarrassed blush spreading across his features as he mumbled,

"I think I wet myself," to his best friend.

If Garundo heard, he gave no sign. Instead, he merely continued. "We're moving out tonight. We can no longer afford to wait for the Citadel to strike at us en masse. They have already made the opening move by taking and murdering my son. Now, they will pay for the atrocities they have committed against their people. We move in, we don't hesitate. Leave the innocents be, but all others . . . we take no prisoners," he said simply, and only then did the Tamers fully realize just how much he had been hurt by the loss of his son. Swallowing Takato took a deep breath. They were being asked to kill – to actually _kill people_. No wonder the Village's leader had tried so hard to get them to leave before.

But. . . could any of them actually _do _that? Any of them? This wasn't just stop-the-bad-guys. This was actual _war_.

What had they gotten themselves into?

* * *

Imouku held his breath as his father stared at him, and at the child hiding behind his left leg. The Ultimate level seemed almost amused by the toddler's presence – but only enraged by Imouku's desire to protect him. Insane green eyes glinted ferociously in the dim lighting of the library – lighting that seemed to grow even dimmer as the GranDracmon's lips pulled back in a sadistic grin. Imouku's heart dropped to the pit of his stomach as his father echoed his statement of moments ago.

"Don't hurt him? Why, pray tell, would I harm the child of my _enemy_, Imouku?"

The redhead's eyes widened, somehow sensing what was coming, but unable to react fast enough to stop his father from grabbing Haseo roughly by the arm, dragging the child toward him, his other hand resting around the toddler's neck – Imouku could see just how easy it would be for the monster Ultimate to snap the Baby II's neck or slit his throat. Haseo seemed to recognize the danger too, as he immediately went very still, though his big brown eyes shone with tears that he tried to keep from spilling, and he looked imploringly at Imouku to do something, anything, to help him out of this. The tiny Gijinka's eyes shown with such absolute faith in the Impmon Gijinka that he wanted to throw up. He couldn't save Haseo, not when his father was so set on killing him.

But. . . he had to do something. . .

"Don't hurt him . . . . _please,_" he said, hating the fact that he was begging, hating the fact that there was nothing else he could do, hating his father for doing this to him, hating _himself_ because he now saw what it must have been like to face him down when he, too, had lost his mind. A cough from Youkano brought Imouku's gaze away from Haseo's, instead forcing him to look into the gleaming insanity of green before him.

"So, you've developed a soft spot for this brat," he scoffed, drawing Haseo forcefully closer to him and eliciting a gasp of pain from the toddler. "Who knows why, but. . . perhaps this could wind up working to our advantage." Imouku gasped and reached out to the Dorimon Gijinka as the Lord of the Citadel dragged a claw lightly across the little Gijinka's throat, not drawing but, but dangerously close to doing so. "Imouku," the bark of command in the blond's voice didn't escape the Child's notice, and Imouku's gaze found his father's again, trying not to get sick at the look of insane delight in his parent's eyes.

"Yeah?" He forced himself to ask. "Whattaya want?"

The low growl from the tall Gijinka before him made him swallow and curse his tendency to mouth off without thinking.

"You really want this child to live?" Youkano asked, and Imouku nodded, wary of where his father was going, but knowing he had no choice but to go along with this at the moment – he barely had the strength to stand, let alone fight. The gleam in the Ultimate's eyes increased, and somehow Imouku guessed that he had done exactly the wrong thing. "Very well then. If you truly desire the survival of this rat of a Gijinka child, then you must stop fighting me! Join my cause against the being that seek to bring destruction upon our race, and I will spare this… Haseo Garundo-Shina's pathetic little life. As a favor to my only heir, of course."

Imouku's gut reaction was to tell his father where to stuff it, but one look at Haseo's panicked brown eyes – so like those of Ai and Makoto that he could almost picture one of his Tamers in the Gijinka's place - and he swallowed his initial response. A tiny part of him that still saw the being before him as his long-lost father – a part that was all but dead, along with what remained of his innocence – screamed at him that he could believe him, trust him, after all, hadn't he always saved him from monsters when he was tiny? Another, more jaded part of his psyche, warned him that he couldn't take this psycho's word on anything – there was no honor in this twisted shell of a Gijinka, and agreeing would only get him in more trouble.

There was a third piece, however, a piece that said his father was right, anyway, and didn't all of these pathetic beings deserve to die anyway? Anything that would make his father happy, make him love him again – it had to be the right thing! Terrified, and torn in so many different directions that he couldn't see straight, Imouku closed his eyes and sighed before nodding, raising his hands in surrender.

"Anything. . . just let him live!"

"Excellent," Imouku heard Youkano say, and then he heard a sound that would haunt his dreams forever after:

Haseo screamed.

It was a gut-wrenching sound born of pure terror and pain, and cut short far too soon, as Youkano casually sunk his claws into the Baby II's throat and wrenched them out, flinging the toddler to the floor in front of Imouku like he was flicking away a fly. Paralyzed by sheer horror, Imouku stared at his father, then at the bleeding toddler who was, miraculously, still alive. The GranDracmon Gijinka burst out into sickening laughter for the briefest of moments, then smiled at his son as blood dripped from his claws. "The child lives – as long as you get him to a healer in time. Get moving though, I doubt he's going to be breathing for much longer."

At that moment, Imouku could almost hear something within his mind shatter; shatter and wither and die all at once. With one last, short glance at his father – one that was dead, lifeless, and at last devoid of that spark of defiance the GranDracmon had fought so hard to destroy, he wordlessly scooped Haseo up and took off for the healer, leaving a trail of blood and lost innocence in his wake.

* * *

"He's going to live." The words were loud, and broke through the haze that had surrounded the redhead's thoughts ever since he had brought Haseo into the healers, not even capable of stumbling out an explanation – not that they'd needed one; the healers at the Citadel were far too used to dealing with their master's rage. Imouku blinked slowly, and turned his gaze to the healer, who watched him with sad eyes, a timid smile on her lopsided face. "Did you hear me, Imouku-sama?" She said, biting her lip a bit. "The little Dorimon is going to live; he's going to make it. You saved his life."

Imouku laughed, a bitter laugh filled with self-loathing. "Saved him? It's my fault he was hurt in the first place. . . my fault any of this happened!" Suddenly he paused, and turned his deadened gaze to the healer. "Wait. You said live. Will he be okay?" He asked, and resisted the urge to growl when the healer's smile dropped and she shook her head.

"It. . . well, it depends on what you mean by 'okay', Imouku-sama. His windpipe was only slightly damaged and we were able to repair it, but his voice box was shredded. He's. . . well, he's mute now, Imouku-sama. There's nothing that can bring his voice back." The Child's eyes widened throughout this explanation, and at the end of it he muttered a particularly strong curse and dropped his head into his hands.

"Saved his life, huh? More like ruined it," he murmured, going very still for a long moment and swallowing roughly. The healer reached out to put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but leaped back as a fireball shot her way, followed by Imouku leaping to his feet, paying no attention to his aggravated injuries or to his surroundings. "It's my fault! All of it! My fault, mine, just me, I kill everything, everybody!" He cried out, a manic look showing up in his eyes as he spun around in a circle, spotting a surgical knife lying on a table. The look in his eyes contrasted sharply with the tears pouring down his face as he seized the blade, taking it first to the chair he'd been sitting in, stabbing it, tearing and pulling at the material, and seeing his father's claws shredding Haseo's tiny throat with every motion he made.

The chair was little more than a ruin of stuffing after just a few moments, and Imouku turned to other targets – namely, his clothing – clothing that was irrevocably stained with Haseo's blood, and seemed to his mind's eye to be covered in the blood of his mother, and the hypothetical blood of every being that he'd killed during his own stint of megalomania, and he slashed at it, occasionally cutting himself in the process but not even noticing; desperate, mad laughter escaped his throat, a sound that Haseo would never make again, just like his words, just like his cries, just like that _scream_, the scream that even now echoed in his ears.

Imouku slashed again, and again, and kept slashing until the blade was snatched out of his grasp and his arms were pinned behind his back.

"Imouku-Sama! Imouku-Sama!" The panicked voice of the healer brought him back to reality, somewhat, and he hung in the grip of the guards that had been called, panting with exhaustion and watching with an odd fascination as his blood mingled with that of Haseo's, dripping to the floor in slow droplets. "Imouku-Sama, look at me!" The voice called again, and his chin was brought around, forcing his vision into the healer's line of sight. "Imouku-sama, you did nothing wrong," the healer said, and Imouku snorted. Couldn't this girl see that he had? That he was as bad as his father – worse, even; he had allowed all of this to happen!

Maybe he was insane, jut like his father. Maybe he'd lost it when he'd entered this place; maybe it had been back with he encountered Chats Ramón for the first time. Maybe it was back when his mother died, or even further back, when the capital fell! Heck, maybe that was his fault too! It probably was, somehow, everything else was, after all!

"Imouku-sama, _please_," the healer said, and he brought his gaze to look into hers again, the mania dying down into the dead look he'd worn before.

"What?" He asked flatly, flinching back when the healer touched his hand, her eyes patient and kind, though perhaps a little frightened.

"You hurt yourself," she said simply, and guided his now unresisting body over to a bed, getting the guards to help him up onto it, whereupon they stepped back, but didn't leave the room. Imouku had a feeling that they wouldn't be leaving him alone any time soon; his chances of privacy were now shot. The healer – Imouku only now realized that it was the Youkomon Gijinka who had stitched him up before – helped him out of his rent and damaged clothing, treating his injuries, both old and new, without so much as flinching. Her hands were gentle, and despite the fright she must have suffered, didn't even shake. "I know you don't believe me, Imouku-sama," she said quietly, almost conversationally. "But that child would be dead if it weren't for you. I'm not certain you realize it, but you've won the loyalty of all of us here at the Citadel. Were you only to have the power to oppose . . . well, I shouldn't talk about such things."

Imouku only listened with half an ear. His mind was on Haseo, and how badly he had failed – how easily that could have been Ai or Makoto. . . how powerless he was to stop this entire thing. He barely looked up as the medic finished treating him for his self-inflicted cuts and helped him to re-dress. Thoughts of what else he should have done, could have done, wound through his mind restlessly, even as he was escorted out of the ward and back to his bedchambers, where he was tucked in to sleep with a guard on either side of his bed.

His last thought before sleeping was that it could only get worse from here.

**-TBC-**


End file.
